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December 5, 2011

MAUREEN HAYDEN: Possible controversial conditions on government assistance raising questions

Maureen Hayden CNHI The Tribune Star Mon Dec 05, 2011, 03:44 PM EST

Should Indiana require welfare recipients to take a drug test?

That’s a question that will be asked, debated, and wrestled over when the General Assembly returns to the Statehouse in January.

A group of Republican legislators, led by Rep. Heath VanNatter of Kokomo and Sen. Jean Leising of Oldenburg, are working on legislation inspired by the actions of other states that have imposed controversial conditions on recipients of government assistance.

What’s behind the move? Too many years of a bad economy that’s driven up the demand for government help.

Earlier this year, both Florida and Missouri passed laws that tie welfare to drug screens.

Florida required welfare applicants to pay for, and pass, a drug test.

Missouri followed an Arizona law that authorized drug testing for welfare recipients suspected of drug use.

The Florida law is on hold, after a federal judge (appointed by a Republican president) put a temporary lock-hold on its enforcement while a court battle ensues over its constitutionality. (It raises a Fourth Amendment issue about unreasonable search and seizure.)

Meanwhile, at least 30 other states have introduced similar drug-testing measures for a range of government assistance programs, from unemployment aid to subsidized housing.

Defenders of such actions see it as a good thing.

They argue it keeps taxpayer dollars from drug users and creates a mechanism to push those drug users into treatment programs.

Opponents include civil-liberties advocates who cite a decade-old federal court ruling that struck down a Michigan law requiring drug screens for welfare applicants, ruling it as too invasive.

But another argument against it has also emerged: If the point of such a law is to keep taxpayer dollars from people who don’t deserve it or are sure to abuse it, why not have drug testing for everybody who gets government dollars?

Think of all the “too big to fail” bankers who were bailed out with $700 billion taxpayer dollars back in 2008; surely some of those people were on drugs when they concocted the crazy financial schemes that crashed the economy.

I heard that “test everybody” argument from a couple of lawyers in the Statehouse, who put it forth with their tongues only halfway in their cheeks.

It has some appeal when it’s targeted toward fat-cat financiers on Wall Street. It has less appeal when you include farm subsidies, preferential tax breaks like the mortgage-interest deduction, or government-subsidized student loans — the kind of government help many of us or our family members enjoy.

VanNatter and Leising — the two Indiana legislators who are crafting the Indiana bill — are two of the more thoughtful lawmakers who do a good job of representing the constituents in their districts and watching over the taxpayer dollars in their care.

They favor a bill like the one passed in Missouri that gives limited power to state welfare administrators to seek drug screens for suspected drug users receiving cash assistance. They also want to build in safeguards, including access to substance-treatment for users and protection for the children of drug users so they don’t end up paying the price for the bad behavior of the adults in their lives.

It’s not the radical fix that some of their colleagues may favor and it’s a step too far for others, which means the rhetoric on the issue will ramp up soon.

Maureen Hayden is Statehouse bureau chief for CNHI Indiana newspapers. Reach her at maureen.hayden@indianamediagroup.com

 

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Copyright 2013 News From Terre Haute, Indiana. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Indiana Legislature

• Court lets walk-out fines against House Democrats stand

  INDIANAPOLIS — House Democrats who had to pay more than $100,000 in fines after they walked out of the Indiana Statehouse won’t get the help they sought from the Indiana Supreme Court.

  June 18, 2013 2 Photos  

• Legislature approves Indiana sentencing laws overhaul

  INDIANAPOLIS — An overhaul of Indiana’s criminal sentencing laws aimed at sending fewer nonviolent offenders to prison has been approved by the Legislature.

  April 26, 2013  

• Budget deal calls for 5 percent income tax cut

  INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana taxpayers will see their personal income tax rate reduced by 5 percent over the next four years under a budget plan agreed to by state lawmakers.

  April 25, 2013  

• Revoked charters could be forgiven $12M in loans

  INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana lawmakers are considering forgiving $12 million in loans that “failing” charter schools accepted from the state.

  April 22, 2013  

• Indiana House set to vote on school safety grant plan

  INDIANAPOLIS — A stripped-down proposal that would start a state grant program toward helping school districts hire police officers and buy safety equipment is set to be voted on by Indiana legislators.

  April 15, 2013  

• Indiana Senate approves minimal voucher expansion

  INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Senate is signing off on a limited expansion of the state’s school voucher program.

  April 10, 2013  

• Group, bill promote natural gas fueling stations

  INDIANAPOLIS — Natural gas advocates want to create incentives for building fueling stations across the state in hopes that more people will operate vehicles using alternative fuels.

  April 8, 2013  

• Senate OKs smaller tax cut than Pence wants

  Indiana Gov. Mike Pence appears to be holding firm to his demand for a 10-percent income tax cut, despite some movement from Senate Republicans who are willing to give him a smaller slice of what he wants.

  April 5, 2013 1 Link  

• Pence: Indiana Senate GOP income tax cut not enough

  INDIANAPOLIS — Gov. Mike Pence says an income tax cut in the Indiana Senate’s proposed budget is a start but he’ll still push for the $500 million cut he has proposed.

  April 4, 2013  

• Indiana Senate leader against school guns mandate

  INDIANAPOLIS — The leader of the Indiana Senate has come out against a proposal that would require all public schools in the state to have an employee armed with a loaded gun.

  April 4, 2013  

• House panel approves HIP expansion, strips grants

  INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana House panel has altered a plan that would use the state’s Healthy Indiana Plan to expand Medicaid coverage in the state.

  April 1, 2013  

• Bill seeks in-state tuition for some immigrants

  INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana lawmakers are considering rolling back the state’s two-year-old immigration law so that illegal immigrants who were attending public colleges then would again be eligible for in-state tuition rates.

  February 21, 2013  

• Bill for tougher Indiana abortion pill law advances

  INDIANAPOLIS — A legislative committee has endorsed a proposal that would make Indiana clinics that provide only abortion drugs face the same requirements as clinics that perform surgical abortions.

  February 20, 2013  

• Bill to ban Indiana teacher union deductions advances

  INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana public schools would be prohibited from handling paycheck deductions for teachers union dues under a proposal endorsed by a Republican-led legislative committee.

  February 19, 2013  

• Bill advances shifting Indiana voucher oversight

  INDIANAPOLIS — A Republican-controlled legislative committee has approved a proposal to shift administration of Indiana’s private school voucher program away from the new Democratic state schools superintendent.

  February 19, 2013  

• Indiana school voucher expansion scaled back

  INDIANAPOLIS — Republican lawmakers have scaled back a large proposed expansion of Indiana’s private school voucher system.

  February 18, 2013  

• Pence unhappy with GOP budget, Dems seek tax vote

  INDIANAPOLIS — Gov. Mike Pence is deriding House Republicans’ state budget plan that would replace his proposed tax cut with more spending on roads and education.

  February 15, 2013  

• Grants proposed to add police at Indiana schools

  INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana lawmakers say they hope to improve security at schools around the state by offering grants toward hiring police officers and buying safety equipment.

  February 14, 2013  

• Indiana Sunday alcohol sales ban likely to remain

  INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana’s longtime ban on Sunday retail alcohol sales will likely continue for at least another year as a vote isn’t being scheduled on a bill to lift it.

  February 13, 2013  

• Indiana bill targets undercover video ‘vigilantes’

  INDIANAPOLIS — A Senate panel has approved a bill that would make it a crime to take photographs or shoot footage at Indiana’s farms and businesses without the owner’s permission.

  February 13, 2013  

• Bill would give high-performing schools more flexibility

  After focusing on failing schools in recent legislative sessions, some Indiana lawmakers say it’s time to reward high-performing schools with more money and more flexibility.

  February 12, 2013  

• Indiana Senate approves right to hunt, farm proposal

  INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana voters would decide in next year’s election whether to add the right to hunt, fish and farm to the state constitution under a proposal approved by state senators.

  February 11, 2013  

• Indiana lawmakers push for Sunday alcohol sales

  INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana lawmakers hoping to allow stores to sell alcohol on Sunday are facing opposition from liquor store owners, who worry the policy could put them out of business.

  January 29, 2013  

• Bill advances to loosen Indiana superintendent rules

  INDIANAPOLIS — School superintendents would no longer have to hold an Indiana superintendent’s or teacher’s license under a bill endorsed today by an Indiana House committee.

  January 29, 2013  

• Bill aims to tighten Indiana laws over ‘bath salts’

  INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana legislators are again trying to toughen state laws that prohibit businesses from selling synthetic drugs known as “bath salts” and other nicknames.

  January 29, 2013  

• Cold medicines could face tighter Indiana limits

  INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana Senate committee has backed tougher limits on quantities consumers may buy of cold medications that can be used to make methamphetamine.

  January 29, 2013  

• Indiana senators seek new social networking ban

  INDIANAPOLIS — Two Republican lawmakers are looking for a new way to keep registered sex offenders off social media one week after a federal appeals court found a previous ban unconstitutional.

  January 28, 2013  

• Indiana House OKs looser rules on selling old schools

  INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana House has approved a bill that would shorten the time that school districts must hold onto vacant buildings in case a charter school operator wanted to move into the building.

  January 28, 2013  

• Indiana lawmakers don sneakers for anti-cancer effort

  INDIANAPOLIS — Numerous Indiana lawmakers and staff members are wearing sneakers around the Statehouse as part of the Coaches vs. Cancer activity sponsored by the American Cancer Society.

  January 28, 2013 1 Photo  

• UPDATE: Indiana lawmakers consider protecting right to hunt

  INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana lawmakers have delayed action on a proposed state constitutional amendment that would guarantee the right of residents to hunt, fish and farm.

  January 28, 2013  

• More Indiana Legislature Headlines

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