Missouri Assembly OKs Bill Requiring Welfare Recipients to Undergo Drug Testing

Missouri’s General Assembly this week passed a bill that would require all work-eligible welfare recipients to undergo drug testing. Anyone testing positive would be barred from receiving benefits for three years. The bill, which has already been passed by the Missouri Senate, has been sent to Governor Jay Nixon.

The St. Louis Beacon reports that the bill would make an exception for a person who tests positive for the first time if they successfully complete a substance abuse treatment program and test negative during a six-month period that starts when they enter treatment. A second positive drug test would make the person ineligible for benefits for three years. Refusing to take a drug test would result in two years without benefits.

Proponents of the bill say that while drug testing will cost the state $1 million annually, the measure should save the state more by barring benefits for people who fail drug tests.  Critics say that the bill would unfairly punish children of people who fail drug testing.

On the federal level, a bill recently introduced in the House by Louisiana Republican Charles Boustany would require drug testing for anyone applying for or receiving benefits under the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. A similar bill, proposed in the Senate by Utah Republican Orrin Hatch, died last year. TANF, formerly known as welfare, provides cash assistance to low-income families with children.