The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

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February 25, 2011

House panel rejects drug tests for welfare recipients

By Mannix Porterfield Register-Herald Reporter

CHARLESTON — Testing folks on the public dole for illegal drug usage is a dead issue in this legislative session, despite a Republican effort to include the idea in the proposed higher tax on tobacco products.

Strictly along party lines, a House panel this week beat back by a 9-14 vote an effort to insist on random drug testing of welfare recipients.

Delegate Patrick Lane, R-Kanawha, sought to include this provision in a House bill aimed at putting an extra dollar per pack tax on cigarettes and raising the levy on spit tobacco from 7 percent of the wholesale price to 50 percent.

“They’re not going to run the drug- testing bill,” the sponsor, Delegate Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson, said Thursday of Democratic leadership.

“I guess they feel like it offends someone. Well, I’m offended by those who use drugs and try to deter the progress of our society. They’re damaging our society, and I think it’s only appropriate to test those who are receiving public aid.”

Carmichael said the refusal to insist on random drug testing for those on public assistance sharply contrasts with the prevailing policy in the private sector.

“You have to get tested to go to work,” he said.

“I don’t see anything wrong with getting tested to get a public welfare check.”

Lane tried to amend the cigarette tax bill with such an amendment but was overwhelmed by a partisan vote.

The idea of the bill is to raise the taxes on tobacco products and dedicate about half of the additional revenue toward drug treatment programs.

It has been estimated by the chief sponsor, Health and Human Resources Chairman Don Perdue, D-Wayne, that upwards of 140,000 residents of the state are hooked on narcotics.

Carmichael offered his own tobacco bill earlier, one that would have eliminated the remaining 3 percent tax on groceries.

“This state has enough money to operate its  programs efficiently if we would make the right choices,” he said.

“We do need to raise the cigarette tax. But it needs to have a corresponding amount decreased in another area of state government, so that it’s revenue neutral.”

Thus, the delegate says he can no longer back the higher tax on tobacco.

“I will oppose the cigarette tax if it’s a revenue grab,” he said.

“We can use that money to reduce the corporate net income tax or unemployment fund. In the long run, the health care of our citizens will be improved, and the job climate will be improved if we implement my policies.”

Under his drug testing plan, welfare recipients who tested positive would have an opportunity to enter a rehabilitation center.

After three screens showed the presence of drugs, however, a recipient’s check would have been cut off.

Carmichael also would have subjected lawmakers to random testing but isn’t sure how he intended to punish them, although his bill called for rehab treatment.

“This is not a punitive measure,” he said.

“This is meant to help people who are addicted to drugs. To the extent we can test them, get them in a program that will eliminate their dependence on drugs, our entire society will be improved. And the quality of life of that individual will be improved as well.”

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com

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