PHOENIX Welfare recipients would need to be tested for illegal drugs and come up clean if they want to receive continued benefits under the terms of one bill designed to balance the state budget.
|
|
But Pearce said that money is only part of what’s behind the plan.
“There’s a moral issue here,’’ he said.
“If you’re getting taxpayer benefits, and this isn’t money you’ve earned, you’re getting free stuff,’’ Pearce explained. “The minimum ought to be that you ought to not be somebody’s that’s engaged in criminal activity.’’
Beyond that, Pearce said he believes that the requirement would be “an incentive to folks to clean up their act.’’
“A lot of the folks that are in desperate need are (that way) because they have a substance abuse problem,’’ he said. “So I’m hoping that this will drive them to get help or at least protect the taxpayer from funding folks who need to get their act together.’’
The specific welfare program is formally known as Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. It is designed to provide both financial help and work opportunities. While recipients are required to get work within two years of being ready, single parents with young children are exempt if they cannot find adequate child care.
Pearce said he does not believe that cutting aid to the parent will hurt the children. He said drug abuse harms families in both abuse and in addicts spending money on drugs instead of necessary items.
Senate Minority Leader Jorge Garcia, DTucson, said he is not convinced that any cost savings to the state will make up the several million dollars a year he believes the testing will cost. Nor does he believe that the threatened loss of a welfare check will result in addicts deciding to quit.
“It’s just one more hurdle people in need have to jump through,’’ Garcia said of a testing requirement.
The required test would not check for alcohol.
“Alcohol is a legal drug,’’ Pearce said. He said that makes it impossible to prove whether someone has an alcohol problem as opposed to just having had a beer at lunch.
About 84,000 people in 38,500 households, including 63,000 children, are receiving TANF funds, according to DES.
DES spokeswoman Liz Barker Alvarez said she believes that testing TANF recipients is permitted by federal law. She said her agency is still analyzing the measure “to determine how it could be implemented to achieve the expected savings.’’
Comments
single dad wrote on Oct 20, 2009 1:16 PM:
would be $3.4 million -AZ revised statute". Thats one test a year. Now consider once a week. Assuming that the testing schedule calls for random testing with a reasonable average interval of five days and that events (substance use) occur randomly for a given patient with an average interval of seven days, the probability of detecting an event would be .03 (1/5* 1/7), or fail to detect an event 97% of the time(Goldstein, 2003). Cost ineffective and inequitable. Melinda is right, we should drug test those idots in the legilature. They are off their rockers. By the way: DES is getting sued now that they have to drug test people. "
Melinda wrote on Mar 9, 2009 7:58 AM:
People get a grip .. When did this country become such a heartless, group that shows NO mercy!!
A mere 265 a month for a welfare recipient.. come on, lets see how much it costs to drug test them, and have the state and feds put them in rehab? Cost effective? Dont think so.. as a matter of fact.. I think the law makers should be tested, before they come up with this BS crap, as they TOO are living off of tax payer money!
I thought America was the land of the Free???? Leave the little underdogs ALONE.. sheesh, if they want to pay for drugs with that 265.. then what is it our business until it becomes our business??? "
Not on Welfare wrote on Feb 25, 2009 1:15 PM:
If you must submit to drug tests at your job, that's because you don't have any rights against your employer. Your employer can drug test you for no good reason (just like he can fire you for no good reason), but you have rights when it comes to the government acting against you. "
Its About Time wrote on Feb 8, 2009 2:06 PM:
single mom with no aide too wrote on Feb 7, 2009 3:16 PM:
Agree with Single mom Not on welfare wrote on Feb 3, 2009 10:58 AM:
This has to stop. If you have to get drug tested for your job, you should have to get drug tested to receive WELFARE! "
singlemomNOTon welfare wrote on Feb 3, 2009 8:48 AM: