Orange County NC Website
RES- 2013 -049 DRAFT Attachment 1 2 <br />ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />Resolution Opposing Potential Drug Testing for Public Assistance <br />Recipients <br />WHEREAS, Senate Bill 594 has been introduced in the 2013 North Carolina General Assembly <br />session, proposing drug testing requirements for recipients of public assistance and requiring <br />families who apply for Work First to be screened at their own expense; and <br />WHEREAS, the proposed drug testing requirements would create hardships for families with the <br />least resources and in many cases will discourage those families from applying for available <br />assistance even when no substance abuse is present; and <br />WHEREAS, if a family does pursue the screening and no issues are identified, it is proposed <br />that the local county social services department will reimburse the family for the costs although <br />no State funds have been appropriated for this expense, thereby establishing another State <br />unfunded mandate for county governments; and <br />WHEREAS, the imposition of a drug testing requirement appears discriminatory by requiring low <br />income families to be screened when many other individuals supported by other various <br />government subsidies and programs are not subject to these arbitrarily invasive requirements; <br />and <br />WHEREAS, provisions such as the one proposed have been successfully challenged on <br />constitutional grounds in other states and the same challenge would likely occur in North <br />Carolina, while in the interim local agencies will have already implemented procedures to adopt <br />the new rules, clients will have already been impacted and costs will already have been <br />incurred; and <br />WHEREAS, there are presently a significant number of requirements that limit the eligible <br />population for the Work First Program, including provisions that 1) the Program only serves <br />parents with children; 2) parents must comply with various regulations related to the education <br />and health of their children; and 3) parents must also participate in work related activities <br />(usually thirty hours per week); <br />NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that we, the Orange County Board of Commissioners, <br />support all families and children and believe that the changes being proposed to the Work First <br />Program through Senate Bill 594 will harm children and their parents, will be ineffective and <br />costly, will create another unfunded mandate for county governments, and will ultimately and <br />appropriately be reversed on constitutional grounds as has occurred in other states. The Board <br />encourages all members of the North Carolina General Assembly and Governor Pat McCrory to <br />oppose the changes detailed in Senate Bill 594 and any other bills requiring drug testing as a <br />condition of eligibility for public assistance programs. <br />This the 18th day of June 2013 <br />Barry Jacobs, Chair <br />Orange County Board of Commissioners <br />