Title:
Louisianans: Oppose mean-spirited welfare benefits drug testing!
Message:
The Louisiana Legislature seems poised to make a mistake.
H.B.
7 would require all Family Independence Temporary Assistance Program (FITAP)
benefit recipients to sign a consent form allowing them to be randomly drug
tested at any time or be declared ineligible to receive cash assistance. It also
requires that at least 20% of adult FITAP recipients must actually be drug tested.
H.B. 7 passed the House, 67-26, on May 17, and passed a Senate committee
yesterday. It could be voted on by the full Senate as early as tomorrow,
although more likely on Saturday or Monday.
Please email your senator to urge opposition to the demeaning
and cruel H.B. 7. It is wrong-headed, incredibly wasteful of scant state
resources, and may
even be unconstitutional.
If a recipient fails a drug test, his or her benefits would
be suspended unless the individual enters an available education and
rehabilitation program. Recipients who complete the program and test negative
for drugs subsequently will likely eventually be allowed re-entry into the
program. FITAP gives cash assistance to poor families who cannot even afford
subsistence needs. Thus, the Louisiana Legislature is trying to punish
impoverished little children simply because a parent smoked a joint, once.
