Following Florida’s controversial decision to require drug-testing for welfare recipients, the Georgia Senate passed a bill Wednesday to require drug testing prior to receiving welfare benefits, and Louisiana may be joining the bandwagon.
State Rep. Sherman Mack, R-Albany, proposed legislation to require 20 percent of adults receiving aid from the Family Independence Temporary Assistance Program to be randomly drug-tested.
The Family Independence Temporary Assistance Program is a form of welfare given to families who need help to meet subsistence needs.
Mack said his legislation is necessary for transparency.
“Any time you give government assistance to someone, you are entrusting yourself with funds from taxpayers — the public’s money,” he said.
The tests will detect any type of illegal narcotic, including prescription drugs, he said.
If a recipient tests positive to the random test, the legislation gives him or her a 90-day grace period to seek treatment. After 90 days, recipients must provide proof of treatment and pass a second drug test — which they must pay for — to receive welfare benefits again.
If a recipient fails this second drug test, he or she will be terminated from assistance for one year.
“This bill is designed to identify those who may have a drug addiction and help them,” Mack said. “Government assistance is meant to give you temporary help so you can get on your feet and move on. It’s designed to have people think, ‘I can fix my problem, get help for it and take this as a stepping stone to provide for my family,’ but if you chose not to fix it, we can’t help you.”
After residents have been terminated for a year, they can reapply as long as there is proof they need the assistance.
Mack said recipients often see testing as a way “to pick on one person,” but random testing provides an equal chance to be selected.
“Random testing was the only way to implement the plan without seeming like picking on someone,” he said. “Anyone’s number can come up.”
Since the state must fund the initial set of tests, Mack proposed urinalysis screening, the cheapest and most efficient form of drug tests.
Last year, a similar bill sponsored by former state Rep. John LaBruzzo, R-Metairie, died in the Senate, but Mack said his bill has more potential to pass with the inclusion of the 90-day grace period.
“My bill is different because you have two screenings,” he said.
 
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Contact Kate Mabry at [email protected]