New Requirements for Public Aid Recipients Head to Senate FloorNew Requirements for Public Aid Recipients Head to Senate Floor

6/13/13 - A pair of bills introduced by Senator Joe Hune last fall and passed by committee on Tuesday would put new requirements on public assistance recipients. If passed, Senate Bill 275 will require public assistance applicants to submit to drug testing if their caseworker has a reasonable suspicion that they are abusing drugs. Hune says this will hold recipients of public money responsible for how they spend it. But some groups question why the state is singling out welfare applicants for drug testing as opposed to other recipients of taxpayer money. Previous plans to drug test welfare applicants have run up against constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure including a pilot program Michigan briefly ran to drug test welfare recipients in late 1999. The American Civil Liberties Union sued, and a federal appeals court eventually ruled the drug testing plan violated the constitution. This new bill would avoid that by making the testing suspicion-based. Hune’s other measure, Senate Bill 276, would require cash assistance recipients to participate in community service, unless they are exempt from the Partnership Accountability Training Hope program. Hune called it a common-sense measure to get those who benefit from public assistance to give back to the community that supports them. The bills passed the Senate Committee on Families, Seniors, and Human Services on Tuesday and now heads to the full Senate for consideration. (TD/JK)