INDIANAPOLIS – An effort to drug test some Indiana welfare recipients crashed Wednesday after concerns were raised regarding the cost of the program and availability of treatment programs for struggling Hoosiers.
A Senate health committee voted 5-5 on House Bill 1007 – meaning it failed and cannot move forward.
“Obviously I’m extremely disappointed,” said Rep. Jud McMillin, R-Brookville, the bill’s author. “I will be looking for any means I can to keep it alive.”
While the bill is dead, the language did pass the House, making it eligible to be amended into other, related bills.
The legislation would have affected only cash welfare benefits – not food stamps, housing vouchers or Medicaid services.
Only about 1 percent of Hoosiers receive this benefit, which averages about $210 a month.
House Bill 1007 asks those receiving cash welfare benefits to consent to drug tests. If a person refuses consent, the recipient can still be required to submit to testing if there is a reasonable suspicion. This includes missing an appointment with state welfare officials or failing to fill something out online.
Those testing positive for drugs who did not give initial consent face harsher consequences more quickly, including losing their benefits altogether.
“This bill is not designed to be punitive. This bill is designed to be helpful,” McMillin said.
“We want to lead them out of poverty by giving them a reason to make better decisions; an incentive.”
The price tag for an initial three-county pilot program could be as much as $1.1 million, but McMillin argued much of that is a one-time, upfront computer programming cost that would not exist when expanding the program to future counties.
He also said the Family and Social Services Administration estimates it could save several hundred thousand dollars during the pilot because benefits will be withheld.
That number is based on a 10 percent rate of positive tests, though. Other states, including Florida, that have tried such a program haven’t seen more than 2 percent of the recipients test positive.
The state is responsible for the cost of those testing negative. Those who test positive must pay.
Sen. Beverly Gard, R-Greenfield, provided the deciding vote against the bill. She is not running for re-election and said while she appreciated the concept she didn’t believe appropriate safety nets are in place for children who might be affected in a home.
Gard also noted the significant cost of the program and said it needs to be examined in a summer study committee.
No one testified in favor of the legislation.
Annie Bowers, a DePauw University student, said she is a fortunate Hoosier whose family never needed public assistance.
She said as she learned about the bill she realized “the national stereotype of a poor, urban single mother living the high life is not true.” Instead, she noted the small, desperately poor rural families living in her own county that need help.
Several people who testified said even those who want to get treatment often can’t afford it. And programs for the indigent have huge waiting lists.
Cathy Williams, of the Indiana Children’s Coalition, said welfare is no longer an unlimited entitlement and that taking cash benefits away from single, struggling mothers hurts children in the home.
She said if a person refuses consent and misses one appointment the person is automatically required to pay upfront for the drug test.
If recipients don’t have the money to do so, it is counted as a refusal and they lose their benefits.
“And they may not even be doing drugs,” said Williams, who called the program a “very expensive and messy scheme.”
