Agenda - 06-18-2013 - 4c - Laserfiche WebLink

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5 Attachment 3 We would like to express our concerns about proposed drug testing requirements for recipients of public assistance. These requirements create incredible hardships for families with the least resources and in many cases will discourage these families, even when no substance abuse is present, from applying for available assistance. It also appears discriminatory to require low income families to be screened when many other individuals are supported by various government subsidies and programs and are not subject to these requirements. The current proposal (Senate Bill 594) requires families who apply for Work First to be screened at their own costs. These families generally have no income (if they make more than $1000 per year they lose some or all of their benefits) and a parent with one child receives maximum monthly assistance of $236. Many of these families will not have the funds to pay privately for the drug screening. If they do pay for the screening and have no issues, the local county office is to reimburse them for the costs. No funds were appropriated for these tests so this becomes an unfunded county mandate. In other states, laws such as the one proposed have been successfully challenged on constitutional grounds and this would likely occur in North Carolina as well. However, local agencies will have already implemented procedures to adopt the new rules, clients will have already been impacted and costs will already have occurred before the law could be struck down. The Work First program already has a significant number of job requirements that limit the eligible population. The Work First program in North Carolina only serves parents with children. The parents must comply with various regulations related to the education and health of their children. They also must participate in work related activities (usually thirty hours per week) before their checks can be released to them. Each family is subjected to state and federal time - limits (two and five years) and the number of recipients has steadily declined since welfare reform was enacted. Even with these restrictions, many parents have taken advantage of our Work First program of temporary assistance to help them get back on their feet after a separation or divorce or a domestic violence situation. There are already ways to address substance abuse issues if present without Senate Bill 594. If the professional staff assigned to the case believes there is a substance abuse issue, the participant must submit to an assessment and to treatment indicated by the assessment. By working with parents and caretakers, local agencies are intervening in various social issues. Not only do these efforts help the parents to become more economically self- sufficient, but they also help children to live in better situations. Our community wants to support all families and children and believes that the changes being proposed to the Work First program through this bill will harm children and their parents and be ineffective and costly. We encourage you to vote against Senate Bill 594 and any other bills requiring drug testing as a condition of eligibility for public assistance programs. Please let us know if you have any questions. We appreciate your assistance with this very important issue.