Texas Senate panel forges welfare drug testing compromise

[Karee 4,191]

A bill to require drug testing of some Texas welfare recipients won unanimous approval from a Senate panel Tuesday after the author and a leading advocate for the poor agreed on a provision assuring that children wouldn’t lose financial help.

Sen. Jane Nelson, the bill’s sponsor, said the change eased her own concerns about possible harm to children while preserving the bill’s goal of pressuring welfare recipients to remain drug-free.

“We don’t want to punish the children,” said Nelson, R-Flower Mound. “But I don’t want to be an enabler.”

Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst have advocated drug tests for Texas residents seeking welfare or unemployment benefits.

Nelson’s bill would require new and renewing applicants for temporary cash assistance, known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, to take a pen and paper test that seeks to determine if they are at high risk of drug abuse.

If their answers raise suspicion they could be misusing drugs, the Health and Human Services Commission would require them to take a drug test. Failing the drug test would trigger a series of escalating sanctions.

Nelson agreed, though, to a change urged by advocates of the poor such as former state District Judge Scott McCown, who heads the center-left think tank the Center for Public Policy Priorities. Under the compromise, children wouldn’t lose cash assistance after a parent failed a drug test for a second time — as the bill originally proposed. Instead, the commission would designate a “protective payee” who would receive the cash benefits for the children. Typically, that would be a grandmother, McCown said.

The bill now goes to the full Senate.

Source:

http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2013/03/senate-panel-forges-welfare-drug-testing-compromise.html/

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

A bill to require drug testing of some Texas welfare recipients won unanimous approval from a Senate panel Tuesday after the author and a leading advocate for the poor agreed on a provision assuring that children wouldn’t lose financial help.

Sen. Jane Nelson, the bill’s sponsor, said the change eased her own concerns about possible harm to children while preserving the bill’s goal of pressuring welfare recipients to remain drug-free.

“We don’t want to punish the children,” said Nelson, R-Flower Mound. “But I don’t want to be an enabler.”

Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst have advocated drug tests for Texas residents seeking welfare or unemployment benefits.

Nelson’s bill would require new and renewing applicants for temporary cash assistance, known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, to take a pen and paper test that seeks to determine if they are at high risk of drug abuse.

If their answers raise suspicion they could be misusing drugs, the Health and Human Services Commission would require them to take a drug test. Failing the drug test would trigger a series of escalating sanctions.

Nelson agreed, though, to a change urged by advocates of the poor such as former state District Judge Scott McCown, who heads the center-left think tank the Center for Public Policy Priorities. Under the compromise, children wouldn’t lose cash assistance after a parent failed a drug test for a second time — as the bill originally proposed. Instead, the commission would designate a “protective payee” who would receive the cash benefits for the children. Typically, that would be a grandmother, McCown said.

The bill now goes to the full Senate.

Source:

http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2013/03/senate-panel-forges-welfare-drug-testing-compromise.html/

Let's hope granny isn't playing bingo with the money either. My niece's mother just found the cash she stashed for tuition next semester, and lost it all playing Mahjong.

[MyLittlePony 340]

I wish drug testing can be done in California be able to reduce the the free loading meth users.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

I wish drug testing can be done in California be able to reduce the the free loading meth users.

Yeah, that's what they thought here in sunny Florida. And you know what they saved? NOTHING. Paying for all these tests actually exceeded the money saved from this tiny percentage of beneficiaries that failed the tests. Some way to shrink the gubmint. Make it more expensive. Only in RWN circles does that make sense.

[MyLittlePony 340]

Yeah, that's what they thought here in sunny Florida. And you know what they saved? NOTHING. Paying for all these tests actually exceeded the money saved from this tiny percentage of beneficiaries that failed the tests. Some way to shrink the gubmint. Make it more expensive. Only in RWN circles does that make sense.

I have no clue how welfare system works never had to use thank god.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

I have no clue how welfare system works never had to use thank god.

Me neither. I am all for making sure that benefits are reserved for those that truly fall on hard times and need them. But this drug test for beneficiaries nonsense isn't really working out. It's more a push to demonize people that receive public benefits - ironically a push by people on public payrolls. Let them take drug tests, too, then.

[james&olya 1,121]

Yeah, that's what they thought here in sunny Florida. And you know what they saved? NOTHING. Paying for all these tests actually exceeded the money saved from this tiny percentage of beneficiaries that failed the tests. Some way to shrink the gubmint. Make it more expensive. Only in RWN circles does that make sense.

It actually is counter-productive for these RWN's to get these laws passed because the images of the drug abusing welfare recipient are far more useful as an unproven stereotype than the actual reality of that being a very small percentage of benefit recipients. But when have they ever let facts get in the way of a good rant?

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

It actually is counter-productive for these RWN's to get these laws passed because the images of the drug abusing welfare recipient are far more useful as an unproven stereotype than the actual reality of that being a very small percentage of benefit recipients. But when have they ever let facts get in the way of a good rant?

True, this is one of the things that came out of the Florida legislation - welfare beneficiaries are actually less likely to be using drugs than those that are not on the dole. There goes the image of the drug abusing welfare recipient. At least for those that live in a reality based world. So the image will still work for the right wingers. They don't do reality.

[Póg mo 1,749]

You know, if they really wanted to save money, they'd end the war on drugs.

[james&olya 1,121]

You know, if they really wanted to save money, they'd end the war on drugs.

This is like a lot of other things that at first seem hard to understand that our government does. You have to ask yourself who has a financial interest in this 'war on drugs'! The growing private prison industry is certainly a player here, and they are known to be big campaign donors. Who else gains?

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Who else gains?

Society in general, unless you think a bunch of drugged out baby boomer zombies have been doing a good job running the world for the last 20 years.

[james&olya 1,121]

Society in general, unless you think a bunch of drugged out baby boomer zombies have been doing a good job running the world for the last 20 years.

So you must believe American society in the 19th century consisted of large numbers of drugged out zombies since opium and cocaine were readily available and legal for purchase. Even Coca-Cola had cocaine as one of its featured ingredients!

A coherent argument can be made that current drug policy actually increases the incidence of drug dependency. And what about all those like Rush Limbaugh that have been and/or currently are addicted to prescription narcotics? Talk about drugged out baby boomers!

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Even Coca-Cola had cocaine as one of its featured ingredients!

http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/cocaine.asp

Begin with facts, and you might have a better argument.

And what about all those like Rush Limbaugh that have been and/or currently are addicted to prescription narcotics? Talk about drugged out baby boomers!

Exactly my point.

[Póg mo 1,749]

Society in general, unless you think a bunch of drugged out baby boomer zombies have been doing a good job running the world for the last 20 years.

The war on drugs has been an unmitigated failure. The fact is, despite spending billions upon billions of dollars on extra police, incarcerating countless thousands of people and the turning our neighbor Mexico into a war zone, illegal drugs continue to be readily available in just about every small town in the United States.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

The war on drugs has been an unmitigated failure. The fact is, despite spending billions upon billions of dollars on extra police, incarcerating countless thousands of people and the turning our neighbor Mexico into a war zone, illegal drugs continue to be readily available in just about every small town in the United States.

You can say it all you want, it doesn't make it true. If you want to see a state where decriminalization has proven you wrong, just look to California. Many of the more progressive communities are using zoning laws to keep out the pot clubs and outlawing the growing of marijuana outdoors. However, we do have some of the burnt out boomers blatantly huffing their buds in public settings: They are the new discourteous smokers, as tobacco smokers are being fined for being withing 200 ft of anybody, but the potheads are given a free pass by the cops, even when nearby children are gagging on the smoke.