Title:
Indiana legislators still picking on poor people
Message:
Last year, we told you about discriminatory legislation that would have required poor people who seek government assistance to pee in cup as a precondition to receiving any benefits. That bill died last year after it was amended to require legislators, whose salaries are also paid by the government (i.e. taxpayers), to be drug screened. Unfortunately, Rep. Jud McMillin is back at it again, and this week was able to get his bill through the House of Representatives despite a fiscal note predicting it would cost the state $1.2 million dollars.
It’s not too late: please ask your senator to oppose this boondoggle!
Just this week, a federal court upheld an injunction against a similar law in Florida, ruling that "there is nothing inherent to the condition of being impoverished that supports the conclusion that there is a 'concrete danger' that impoverished individuals are prone to drug use." That’s why the state’s non-partisan Office of Fiscal Management and Analysis predicts the state will end up spending $2.8 million enforcing this law, only to save $1.6 million in withheld benefits — a net loser for taxpayers.
Please ask your senator to oppose HB 1483, then ask your friends to do the same.
