States seek to link public assistance, drug testing

[upstatecajun]

South Carolina state Sen. Harvey Peeler was at a Chamber of Commerce meeting in January when the human resources director of one of the area’s major employers, textile manufacturer Hamrick Mills, told him the company was having trouble hiring some people from the unemployment rolls.

"They said they had potential employees that would come and apply and couldn’t pass the drug test,” Peeler says.

Peeler, a Republican who says he heard similar stories from other employers, introduced a bill Feb. 9 that would suspend unemployment checks to people who fail a drug test they must take to get a job.

South Carolina is among 27 states, including Florida, Massachusetts and Arizona, to consider legislation this year that would require recipients of various kinds of public assistance to pass drug tests, according to Meagan Dorsch of the National Conference of State Legislatures.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-04-17-drug-tests-state-legislatures-South-Carolina-.htm


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