WELFARE RECIPIENTS COULD BE TESTED FOR ILLEGAL DRUGS

ACLU Wonders If Proposal Is What It Agreed to With State

LANSING -- Welfare recipients could be required to take a drug test to
continue receiving state aid under legislation on its way to the state
House.

The bill approved Wednesday by the House Family and Children Services
Committee would allow the Family Independence Agency to require a drug
test if one of its employees has probable cause to suspect a recipient
of substance abuse.

It's the first time the Legislature has taken up the issue since the
American Civil Liberties Union and the state reached a settlement to
end their four-year dispute over the state's 1999 pilot program to
drug test all welfare recipients. The agreement followed an April 2003
ruling by the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals that said the
drug-testing program violated the Fourth Amendment.

The agreement only would allow people suspected by a professional of
having a drug problem to be subject to a test. The determination would
be made, in part, by drug-use surveys filled out by welfare recipients.

ACLU lobbyist Shelli Weisberg said the proposed legislation doesn't
reflect the state's deal with the group because it would allow any FIA
employee to require a drug test.

"FIA employees do not have training to know probable cause," Weisberg
told the committee.

But a number of Republicans on the committee argued that it's an
important way to get low-income adults on the path to
self-sufficiency.

Ron Hicks, the FIA's legislative liaison, also said the agency opposes
the bill because it doesn't match the state's agreement with the ACLU.
That deal only calls for a limited pilot project but the legislation
would require statewide implementation, he said.

Hicks said the state hasn't tested any welfare recipients for drugs
since 1999 and doesn't plan to do it.

Rep. David Farhat, a Republican from Fruitport who introduced the
bill, said he would be willing to make changes to the bill to better
reflect the agreement.

"My goal is to push something forward that is going to work," he
said.

The FIA also is worried about how to pay for testing and treatment,
Hicks said. Nearly $5.9 million had been set aside in 1999 to
implement a pilot program in several areas of the state, FIA
spokeswoman Karen Smith said.

The state tested 533 people during five weeks in 1999 before the civil
liberties union filed its lawsuit and a court injunction halted the
program, Hicks said. Of those tested, the state got back results for
435 and 45 of those were positive, he said.

Without the lawsuit, drug testing for welfare recipients was set to go
statewide by April 1, 2003.

The five Republican committee members who voted for the bill were:
Chairman Lauren Hager of Port Huron, John Stahl of North Branch, Doug
Hart of Rockford, Fulton Sheen of Plainwell and Joanne Vorhees of
Wyoming. Republican Rep. Barbara Vander Veen of Allendale was absent
and didn't vote.

Two of the committee's three Democrats voted against it: Artina
Tinsley Hardman of Detroit and Brenda Clack of Flint. Rep. Jennifer
Elkins, D-Lake, was at the meeting but abstained.