Tag: Drug testing

Action NC: Ask lawmakers to pee first

April 24, 2013 at 8:23 amCategory:Uncategorized

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As you can see below, the good people at Action NC are speaking up and out against the General Assembly’s plan to make applicants for Work First assistance to take drug tests before they can obtain the pittance in benefits that the program provides.

Send the NCGA a Pee Cup

The North Carolina Senate has passed a bill requiring applicants of the welfare program known as WorkFirst  to first pay for, and then pass, a drug test before enrolling in the program.

cup1.gifThis bill is not law yet. With your help, we can send a strong message to our lawmakers.

You can send a pee cup to your State Senator with a small $8 donation to Action NC.

We will tell NC General Assembly that if they are going to require drug tests for North Carolina residents, then they should pee first. Read More…

New report: Mandatory drug testing of Work First applicants would be a big mistake

April 22, 2013 at 11:41 amCategory:Uncategorized

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Just released:sb594

Mandatory drug testing of Work First applicants, recipients would be costly, ineffective, and likely illegal
New report finds universal drug testing could cost North Carolina as much as $2.3 million

RALEIGH (April 22, 2013) — North Carolina lawmakers are currently pursuing legislation that would require mandatory drug testing of all Work First applicants and recipients. Such actions would be costly, likely illegal, and ineffective at identifying and treating drug abuse, a new report finds.

North Carolina’s Work First program assists extremely low-income families in getting on the path to self-sufficiency. Suspicionless mandatory drug testing for Work First families, as proposed by Senate Bill 594, would place additional financial burdens on struggling families who receive assistance, not to mention the whole of North Carolina, according to a new report from the North Carolina Justice Center. Read More…

State lawmaker embarrasses himself on drug testing bill

April 9, 2013 at 2:38 pmCategory:Uncategorized

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 Tommy Tucker 2There are so many reasons that it is a ridiculous idea to require drug tests for all applicants for Work First/Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or “TANF” benefits (as proposed by multiple state senators) that it’s hard to know where to begin.

It would be absurdly expensive. It would likely catch a tiny number of people. It would likely undermine the state’s ongoing successful efforts to help get people with drug abuse problems into treatment. It is also absurdly unfair to pick only on TANF recipients — Why not all college students? Or all legislators? Or all recipients of economic incentive giveaways?

But here’s another and less debatable reason: It’s unconstitutional.  Last month, the Federal Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta unanimously struck down a Florida law that is the basis of the North Carolina proposal.

According to the court: Read More…

House Speaker’s “divide and conquer” statement lights a fire

October 12, 2011 at 11:25 amCategory:Uncategorized

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The web is alight these last 24 hours with stories and commentaries regarding North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis’s remarkably offensive and bone-headed comments before a group of Madison County Republicans.  

The story, which was broken by my colleague Chris Fitzsimon, has now made its way onto the websites several other news outlets, including WRAL, the News & Observer, State Government Radio and the Freedom newspapers.   

The Speaker’s helpers are already trying to spin the story as mere linguistic clumsiness, but anyone who watches the speech gets a very different impression — namely that Tillis thought he was speaking to an extremely friendly audience of supporters (one in which he could let his hair down and say what he really thinks).

It is, frankly, an incredibly depressing glimpse into the heart (largely non-existent it would appear) of a very powerful and, normally, very slick politician.