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Lawsuit Seeks To Block Welfare Recipient Drug Tests
September 27, 2011
A federal judge in Orlando on Monday gave Florida officials 14 days to respond to a lawsuit challenging the state’s ability to drug test applicants for temporary cash assistance.
Following testimony Monday morning, U.S. District Judge Mary Scriven refused to immediately issue an injunction barring the Department of Children and Families from conducting the drug screens for new applicants for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
A lawsuit filed by a University of Central Florida student, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, is asking the federal court to strike down the law passed by Florida lawmakers earlier this year. Attorneys for Luis Lebron contend the blanket screenings are unconstitutional because they amount to suspicionless searches.
Scriven took the motion for an immediate injunction under advisement. She can rule on it before the 14-day extension she granted the state to counter Lebron’s motion for class action status on behalf of other TANF recipients who must now pay for and pass drug tests before receiving cash benefits.
Lebron’s attorneys argued that the state had no reason to suspect that he abused drugs. Lacking any concern over public safety, the state is barred from making such a presumption, they said.
“The governor and the Legislature sent their lawyers into court today to advance a very startling proposition. They argue that some Floridians, namely poor families with children who qualify for temporary public assistance, are not protected by the Constitution of the United States,” said ACLU of Florida Executive Director Howard Simon.
The state countered that Lebron was allowed to seek benefits or not and he chose to forgo the federal assistance by not taking a test.
“No one forces an applicant to take the test. The plaintiff was notified of his right to refuse and has exercised that right,” the state wrote in its initial response. “Because any invasion of the plaintiff’s privacy rights is purely consensual, no search within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures has occurred.”
A U.S. Navy veteran, Lebron is a single, custodial father who is scheduled to graduate in December. He was denied benefits when he refused to take the test, which costs between $25 and $45.
Backers of the measure, including Gov. Rick Scott, say private businesses have been requiring such tests for years and government should be no different. A survey released Wednesday by the Drug and Alcohol Testing Industry Association, a trade group for testing companies, found 57 percent of employers conduct drug tests on all job candidates.
Critics argue that recipients are being singled out based on a myth that poor people are more likely to use illegal drugs. They point out that other government programs such as student loans, food stamps and business grants do not require recipients to be screened for drug use.
So far, the state says only 2 percent of recipients have tested positive for illegal drugs, a failure rate that is below that of the general population. A 2009 study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found that 8.7 percent of Americans age 12 and older reported using illicit drugs.
By Michael Peltier
The News Service of Florida
Comments
21 Responses to “Lawsuit Seeks To Block Welfare Recipient Drug Tests”
And on another note, the abuse of these programs is beyond everyone’s wildest comprehension. I work in a grocery store and see foodstamps abused daily. I go to school full time, work part time and pay for all my bills and food with no state assistance. Which is DAMN hard. But whats most unfair is that I’ve been denied foodshare because I’m a working student that doesn’t always meet the required number of hours to be eligible. Yet it turns out, if I didn’t work or go to school, I would just get it. Seem’s i have to get knocked up to get help buying food. Alas, I’ll just eat cheap and try to make ends meet. Like everyone else.
@ Robin. Birth control is free from family planning services offered in multiple states. I know because I got it for a few year when I couldn’t afford it, and I wanted to be responsible. Better I let the state pay for my pills then give me WIC and foodstamps for kids. TEST EVERYONE. Like everyone’s said, if you’ve got nothing to hide
the way i see it if you are having a hissy fit then you must be doing drugs. if you have nothing to hide whats the big deal? and i read that they are only doing this for those who are asking for money not for foodstamps or medicare so again what does that tell you? i no of people who are on drugs that are getting foodstamps and a check while i have to earn my money they are sitting up high somewhere with no care in the world except how they are gonna get more money to get high on. this results to breakins and robbery so yeah i think its time this happen and if they fail the test then no money for them.
This idea has been the best. It is great they are trying to do this. There is so many drug dealers out there getting assistant that doesn’t need it and hurting the ones that do. From my understanding they apply get the benefits then overturn the FREE government money for drugs. Please let this one be a winner.
@ Susan- How is birth control free? The only people I know who get birth control free are elementary and middle school students.
Oh I forgot to say
“The ACLU is like the big brother or sister you never wanted, always there causing problems for you when you think things are finally going right”
The ACLU causes more harm than good!!
If I am subject to random or even scheduled drug testing and HAVE A JOB……
(even the government does this FED & State)
why not make it the same for those with out a job seeking assistance?????
this seems like a no brainer ,
but some think we should give it all away for nothing and require nothing to recieve it!!!!
it is time to make some decent laws that make sense for once…..
I think that anyone who gets assistance from the state SHOULD be tested. Because I can tell you of several people right now that are receiving assistance that are doing drugs and uses the assistance they receive to get these drugs. Then you have the ones out there that could really use the help and can’t get it. I can only pray that the lawsuit is dismissed!
OH please!!! If I have to pee in a cup to keep my job and collect my pay that I ACTUALLY WORKED to EARN, then welfare and all other government program recipients can pee in a cup to keep collecting MY dang money (via taxes) that they DONT HAVE TO WORK AND EARN. These programs are so widely abused and misused its ridiculous. If you cant afford to feed and clothe and care for kids with your OWN money from your OWN JOB, then DONT HAVE THEM. Birth control is free and there is also something called restraint and common decency. Taxpayers are just plum SICK of this crap. Yes, there are a FEW who actually need and deserve TEMPORARY assistance, but the problem is that its hardly ever temporary. There are a few who are truly disabled through no fault of their own and are unable to work ANY kind of job….but yall would be shocked at the fraud and abuse. We have generations of this crap…and fraud and abuse is rampant. Right here just in Atmore, welfare, wic, food stamps, disability, etc etc.. is widely abused and misused. The whole dang system needs scrapped. Yes, drug test anyone who recieves any kind of assistance or govt programs….just as those of us who are EMPLOYED must do!!!!!
What is the difference between drug testing for tax funded cash assistance and a field sobriety test / breathalyzer to drive?
When you get a drivers license, you give consent to be tested or lose your license.
If they are not using illegal drugs, they should not be afraid to be drug tested. I know AMERICA cannot continue to support everyone. The leaders of this country need to get welfare under control. We should not be paying babies to have babies, which we are doing, if we give money to teenagers to support their child(ren) if they don’t have a job.
My personal opinion: I do think the drug testing is a good idea, but peple are forgetting that if these recipients fail the drug test, all they have to do is name a beneficiary to receive their cash assistance. That defeats the purpose and is a waste of time! It should be….if you fail you receive NO assistance…period point blank!
Very interesting I just knew this was going to happen. It appears there is going to be an uproar when ask to take a test for free monetary help. Let’s see if I got this correct okay. I apply for a job I have to pass a test and if hired the company I work for can randomly test at anytime if that is their policy. If I am found with something in my system they have the right to terminate. Oh wait a minute I guess I could go on the public dole at that point with no test and become a recipiant of some of those taxes rather than be a tax payer. What kind of sense does it make allowing one segment to not have to take a test and the other who might I add is producing have to take the test. That being the case they should abolish the testing practices period!
I don’t mind giving a helping hand whatsoever but I do mind just handing out money without knowing if it is being used for what it is intended for. I am not saying all people who receive help are users of drugs. But what I am saying is carve out the ones who are. We should not be funding their habits. We should be helping the ones who truely need it and are trying to have a better life.
Just saying this makes comon sense to me to require the testing if you are going to receive the help.
http://www.dcf.state.fl.us/programs/access/drugtestinggeninfo.shtml
I honestly do not see why people are upset by this. The drug test is not required for Medicaid or Food Assistance Programs. It’s only for people applying for Temporary Cash Assistance. If you want money from the state, pass a drug test.
Also, you pay for the test yourself, IF YOU PASS, the cost is added to your first month’s amount. THEY REIMBURSE YOU!!
What is the big deal? I took a drug test in order to get my job. I would not have a problem with taking a drug test if I applied for Cash Assistance from the State. You do not HAVE to get the money, it’s not the State’s Responsibility to see that you and your children are taken care of. If I needed the assistance to make sure my children are taken care, I, personally, would do everything in my power to make sure they are. It’s called Parenting and taking responsibility for yourself and your own.
Gov. Scott needs to hire better attorneys. I am amazed that with the amount of money that our state is paying these lawyers to defend this lawsuit that the best argument that they could come up with is “some Floridians, namely poor families with children who qualify for temporary public assistance, are not protected by the Constitution of the United States”. That is crazy. The state will definitely loose the case if they continue to make statement like that.
Also, in response to “jp” statement. Why on earth did you bring up the gun laws??? That’s like comparing apples to wood chips. The two are not related.
By the way, this college kid better have a JOB and PAY TAXES or he Doesn’t have any rights yet in this concern as far as I’m concerned, because it isn’t HIS TAX
dollars we are spending to fund anyone.
if you’d failed, you’d've paid dearly, most likely
I have taken many drug tests for employers over the years. However, not once did I ever have to pay for it myself.
It would be interesting to see how many folks arrested in Florida on drug charges, are receiving some type of government aid. either directly or indirectly.
So they are saying that only the poor are singled out, then how about all us poor that is working 5 & 6 days a week and still have to take a drug test. If it is a invasion of privacy for welfare citizens, then the working class should also go to court, because it is an invasion our privacy.
It appears the ACLU feels that drug testing poor people in need is akin to profiling. Perhaps, in their minds, people who apply for government assistance
are mearly looking for short term help until they can become productive, working
taxpaying citizens. I should like to see the percentage of that happening as we have had this “war on poverty” since LBJ was president and I believe it is safe to
say, poverty is still with us in record numbers., This is one more of the vast number of government programs that doesn’t work. If it is wrong to try to see that
taxpayer dollars are spent on the truly needy, then it is wrong for the government
to have an assistance program for the needy at all.
Afterall, in the same since, why is it required by the Federal Government, with
the courts and ACLU blessing, to have a background check for prospective gun
buyers? The same principle applies.