CHICAGO ALDERMEN BALK AT DRUG TESTING FOR CITY EMPLOYEES

Hearing Cancelled After ACLU Sends Letter

Chicago aldermen are balking at a proposal to impose random drug tests
on all city employees as the American Civil Liberties Union raises
questions about whether it would survive a court challenge.

A City Council committee that was scheduled to consider the drug test
idea this afternoon cancelled the meeting after the ACLU sent a letter
to aldermen. The letter warned that courts have repeatedly stuck down
laws that require "suspicionless drug testing of government employees
whose possible drug use raises no significant concerns."

Ald. Edward Burke, 14th, and Ald. Patrick O'Connor, 40th, proposed the
random drug tests, which also would target aldermen. The measure came
after a streets and sanitation driver stuck a crowd of people last
month while allegedly drunk on the job.

"I think the (city) Law Department is wrestling with the question of
whether or not we could impose that, but Ald. O'Connor and I feel
strongly that there has to be a re-evaluation of the city employees
who are subject to random drug testing," Burke said today.

"For instance, even though police officers and firefighters are
subject to random drug testing, aviation police at the airports are
not," he added. "That would seem to be a clear example of how there
needs to be a re-evaluation of this overall policy."

In addition to violating privacy clauses in the federal and state
constitutions, imposing across the board drug testing on the city's
more than 34,000 employees would cost $1.75 million a year, wrote Mary
Dixon, the legislative director for ACLU of Illinois, in the June 16
letter.

Burke, however, said spending money now might save more over the long
haul if it prevents accidents like the one involving the city driver
last month and the inevitable multi-million-dollar lawsuits that come
in their wake. "I think that in the cases of public safety, sometimes
a stitch in time saves nine," he said.

In 1989, a federal appellate court struck down drug testing of all
Cook County Jail employees, saying the sheriff could not test
non-public safety employees who had no contact with detainees.

Burke suggested that ruling and similar ones would guide the final
proposal. "You could make out a good argument that perhaps a clerk in
a local ward office wouldn't be likely to endanger the public safety
if he or she was a user of drugs or narcotics," he said.

The ACLU this month filed a lawsuit in Florida challenging Gov. Rick
Scott's executive order requiring drug tests for all state workers.
Scott suspended the order pending the outcome of that case.

Influential Ald. Richard Mell, 33rd, said the city cannot afford to
enact laws that would lead to expensive legal battles.

"The city should not create legislation that we know or feel strongly
cannot be successfully defended in court and could lead to court costs
that can go on for years," Mell said.

In many cases, imposing random drug testing would involve changing
union contracts. "One would think that the unions would be anxious to
be viewed as part of the solution, not part of the problem," Burke
said.

Ald. Proco "Joe" Moreno, 1st, said he opposes drug tests for workers
unless there are public safety concerns, as in the case of police
officers, firefighters or drivers.

The Chicago Housing Authority was also involved in a similar
controversy.

Earlier this month, CHA considered implementing a proposal to
institute mandatory drug tests for all adults who apply for a CHA
lease or renew a lease. Under CHA's proposed plan, if a tenant tested
positive for drugs, he or she would have been steered into city-funded
drug treatment or face eviction.

The agency scrapped that proposal this week.

"We received a tremendous amount of feedback from the public comment
period and the result is that CHA will not move forward with the
proposal," said Matt Aguilar, a CHA spokesman. "People voiced their
opinion that it was not a good idea."

CHA's embattled CEO Lewis Jordan proposed the idea. Jordan tendered
his resignation last week and will depart the agency later this month
in the wake of questions about his credit card use at the city agency.

Had it been approved, Chicago would have been the first city to
require drug testing for all public housing residents. The CHA
currently tests residents in nearly half of the 45 mixed-income
developments that blend public housing residents with people who pay
market rates to buy or rent.