Michigan Votes Forum

Introduced in the House on October 29, 2008

Click here to view bill details.

Where is the common sense in this??? If people need welfare where are they going to get the money to pay for a drug test??

Maybe it could come out of thier cigeret money.

. . .the same requirement is placed on the State legislature and state officials. I'll pass the cup!

How about we require drug testing of the state legislature every six months, to be paid by them personally? What a stupid, repressive idea.

This is obviously an invasion of a persons privacy, which is a constitutional right not given up by being on welfare. What kind of a wacko is this legislator?

drug testing to keep my job but you don't think it's fair for you to do the same to keep getting money that the state stole from me?? There is a reason the welfare people are unproductive. Anybody that would argue with this legislation is out to lunch and will probably never be part of the productive class. Go get another 40, oprahs coming on soon.

beer money. From watching the people using food stamps at the grocery it doesn't seem to me that any of them are starving, they're all hugh.

I know a lot of people who receive state assistance. I even try to help them out from time to time. Even with state help they run out of basics all of the time. Almost none of them even smoke. They do not have cable. Many cannot even afford an old clunker for a car so their job opportunities are limited to what is near them or a job that works only when the buses are running! They run out of food all of the time- how are they going to pay for a drug test. Even when I've had employers who use drug tests- it's only pre-employment and if you have an accident and I've only had one who required you to pay for your pre-employment test and they reimbursed you for it if the hired you! Then, who is going to go through all of the results? Taxpayers will have to pay additional labor hours for social workers to go through the extra paper work. Then if it's positive for narcotics will police be involved? What a mess. Instead of worrying about ways to disqualify people for state aid, they should be looking for ways to help people get a leg up! The system is seriously messed up. Even if you are a full-time college student, they still expect you to go to Work First and try to find a full-time job! I say leave the hard working student alone so they can get a degree and meaningful employment. Working at Walmart 40 hours a week while carrying a 12 to 16 credit courseload is not going to help that single mother of 4! However, if she can get A's while working 20 hours a week and just needs help with food, why not help that family. It's just common sense. How about the person who works 30-40 hours a week as a waitress and with the downturn in the economy is making 25% less than last year at this same time. Then, the caseworker says they have 60 days to review her case while her foodstamps are turned off because he "thinks" they MUST be making more money because they live at the armory? (Apparently, he thinks everyone there must be selling tons of artwork and making thousands- in reality, at the first art show only ONE piece sold. It will take time for the place to build momentum and things to sell). So, for 2 months this family has been without foodstamps and has used cash to feed their children. Now they are not able to make thier rent on time or in full and will loose their apartment if they are late one more time. Is this really helping anyone? What about the people who the state decides are No longer "disabled" and cuts them off from all benefits? I know a man who has a shunt in his head, can barely walk, hurts to sit for long periods, gets seizures and needs fluid drained from his brain several times a year to live. After getting state disability for 3 years (not SSI) the state decided his was no longer disabled- even though his condition had not changed. He was receiving just over $200 a month to live on and just over $100 in food stamps. This man could barely live on his own on the $300 a month- and they took it away. Now, he stays with different friends when he's used up all of his days at the homeless shelter! These people are not drug users. To think that people on assistance must all be is a stereotype. We need to be looking for ways to bring people up- not drag them down. Perhaps the legislature needs to spend some time in our poorer neighborhoods and realize this is becoming the majority of our communities- this is not the gang-war projects in the movies. These are just average Americans suffering from the lousy economy in Michigan.

Privacy is not a right listed in the Constitution. Read it and you will not find privacy mentioned anywhere.

Poster writes: “Privacy is not a right listed in the Constitution. Read it and you will not find privacy mentioned anywhere.” That really doesn’t disqualify privacy as a fundamental individual human right in the United States. Consider, first, Amendment IX, the ninth item in the Bill of Rights, which says, “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” That is to say, the fact that a right is not specifically listed shall not be understood to mean such a right does not exist under the Constitution. Emphasis is placed on the “shall not.” This is not an optional concept or principle. Nor is it ambiguous. It is blunt and direct. Furthermore, Amendments I, III, IV and V all strongly imply a right to privacy (the right to have one’s own thoughts and beliefs, the right to not have his/her own home taken over by the government, the right to be secure in the privacy of one’s own home, the right to not be compelled to testify against oneself). The right to personal liberty is all but rendered meaningless without a right to personal privacy. The right to personal privacy is implicit in the Constitution. Of course, if you believe otherwise, you are fully entitled to try proving your belief to be true. I’d be amused to see your proof. Good luck in producing it.

But you ain't getting any more of MY MONEY for sitting home smoking fat boys! Fair Enough?

amendments, which tell the government to leave the people alone to mind their own business. where do you find all this "THE PEOPLE ARE STUPID AND MUST BE PROTECTED FROM THEMSELVES" crap?

 Maybe they can use some of the money they get from being on welfare to pay for the drug test instead of buying steak and lobster every "paycheck from the gov", BTW I used to work at a supermarket and this is a very real problem, people buying expensive items with welfare checks. Go get a damn job if you can't find one your not trying hard enough, toughen up survival of the fittest.

 you DO have a right to privacy, until you come to the government for PUBLIC ASSISTANCE.

it's the price you pay for being coddled.

you live under the government's roof, you follow the government's rules.