RICHMOND – The Virginia Senate voted Tuesday to require some welfare recipients to be tested for drugs despite concerns that it will cost the state more money than it saves.
The bill, approved 21-20 after Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling broke a tie vote, would require all welfare recipients to undergo a screening process and if concerns arise, like a previous convictions for drug use, a drug test would be required before that person could receive aid.
The House of Delegates will tackle the bill next, but it already shelved a similar measure until 2013. While Senate Republicans said the state must exercise care with each dollar it spends, their House counterparts worried that the cost of drug tests would outweigh any welfare benefits the state recoups.
Non-partisan fiscal projections said the screening and testing process could cost the state $3.5 million even though it is likely to recover only $700,000 in illicit welfare benefits. Experts testified in committee that drug use among welfare recipients is not any higher than for the population overall, a fact Republicans conceded Tuesday.
“There’s no reason to suspect there will be more people using drugs in this population than any other. But that doesn’t matter,” said Sen. Steve Martin, R-Chesterfield, the bill’s chief patron. “The fact is if there are children that are being harmed in their households, both because of the drug use and because the money is not getting through, then we should be concerned about that.”
Democrats questioned why welfare recipients are subject to drug tests when other recipients of state funds aren’t held to a similar standard.
“This measure simply perpetuates a negative stereotype about the people that participate in the program,” said Sen. Mamie Locke, D-Hampton.
