Poor people in Tennessee better get ready to forfeit bodily fluids if they want welfare benefits.
A new law taking effect this week allows the state Department of Human Services to screen applicants to the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, known in Tennessee as Families First. The testing regime is not as harsh as the one in Florida famously deemed unconstitutional by federal courts in 2011.
If Families First applicants answer "yes" on a three-question form about potential drug use, they'll be referred for urine testing. If the results are positive, according to the state's implementation plan, the applicants will only be cut off if they fail another test after six months of treatment.
Florida, by contrast, simply made every single applicant pee in cups at the outset, made applicants pay for their own tests and canceled their benefits if they failed. Courts halted the program, saying Republican Gov. Rick Scott's blanket testing violated applicants' constitutional right to privacy. Tennessee and the six other states that have passed welfare drug testing laws since 2011 have tried not to repeat Florida's mistakes.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/02/welfare-drug-testing-take_n_5548720.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592
A new law taking effect this week allows the state Department of Human Services to screen applicants to the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, known in Tennessee as Families First. The testing regime is not as harsh as the one in Florida famously deemed unconstitutional by federal courts in 2011.
If Families First applicants answer "yes" on a three-question form about potential drug use, they'll be referred for urine testing. If the results are positive, according to the state's implementation plan, the applicants will only be cut off if they fail another test after six months of treatment.
Florida, by contrast, simply made every single applicant pee in cups at the outset, made applicants pay for their own tests and canceled their benefits if they failed. Courts halted the program, saying Republican Gov. Rick Scott's blanket testing violated applicants' constitutional right to privacy. Tennessee and the six other states that have passed welfare drug testing laws since 2011 have tried not to repeat Florida's mistakes.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/02/welfare-drug-testing-take_n_5548720.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592
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