Pubdate: Fri, 18 Oct 2013
Source: Morning Sun (Mt. Pleasant, MI)
Copyright: 2013 Associated Press
Contact:   http://www.themorningsun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3938

STATE SENATE VOTES TO END JOBLESS CHECKS FOR DRUG USERS

LANSING (AP) - Michigan job seekers who use illegal drugs would be 
denied unemployment benefits under legislation that moved forward in 
the state Legislature on Thursday.

The Republican-led Senate voted 28-10, almost entirely along party 
lines, to disqualify people from receiving jobless benefits if they 
fail a drug test required by a prospective employer or refuse to take 
the test without good cause.

Businesses would not have to notify the state when job applicants 
fail a drug test or decline to take it. But if companies do pass 
along the information, applicants not hired because of a failed drug 
test would lose their checks and possibly have to pay back the state.

The proposed law introduced just six weeks ago would be on the books 
for one year, forcing lawmakers to renew it to keep the restrictions in place.

The legislation is expected to receive final approval from the House 
next week because it is tied to anti-unemployment fraud bills that 
must be enacted quickly to comply with federal law changes. The 
GOP-led House approved an earlier version of the package last month. 
Republican Gov. Rick Snyder's office did not respond Thursday on 
whether he would sign it.

Critics called the drug-testing bill a solution in search of a 
problem and accused Republicans of demonizing certain people to score 
political points.

"If you were really interested in helping people gain employment, you 
wouldn't kick them and their family off of (unemployment)," said Sen. 
Coleman Young II, a Detroit Democrat. "You would offer them drug 
treatment so they can lead a sober life."

But defenders of the legislation said employers who pay taxes to fund 
the unemployment trust fund should not have to give assistance to 
undeserving recipients.

"It's not politics to me," said Sen. Mark Jansen, a Republican from 
Kent County's Gaines Township. "The employer has the right to 
basically say, 'I don't have to pay them if they test positive to 
drugs. I'm giving them a choice. You want this job. I want you for 
the job. Don't forget if you don't pass a drug test you're not going 
to make it and by the way you're going to lose your unemployment.' 
The employee is ... going to have to come to the realization that you 
shouldn't be doing drugs. It's illegal. I'm not sure what's wrong with that."

Roughly 112,000 Michigan residents are receiving unemployment 
insurance benefits. The maximum benefit is $362 a week. Recipients 
get 20 weeks of state benefits and up to another 27 weeks of lower 
federal benefits.

The Senate changed the bill slightly to further clarify that it would 
affect those who test positive for a controlled substance and lack a 
"valid, documented prescription" as defined in the public health 
code. The legislation could leave legal medical marijuana users in 
limbo because they are "certified" to use the drug by doctors but not 
prescribed it under the law.

"Will the courts have to get involved? Probably," Jansen said.

He said he plans to revisit the unemployment fraud issue with 
followup bills to better tell people up front that they could lose 
their benefits and be forced to pay improper payments back.

Democrats said the legislation would not protect people who are 
mistakenly given unemployment benefits through no fault of their own 
and then asked to repay. Opponents have said some states passed laws 
to mandate that businesses report drug users and make unemployment 
benefits off limits only to repeal them.

"If the policy were applied equally to all who receive public 
assistance it would be different," said Shelli Weisberg, lobbyist for 
the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan. "A corporation 
seeking a tax abatement or government subsidy should have their board 
and CEO subject to a drug test and the same consequences."

Two Democrats, Glenn Anderson of Westland and Tupac Hunter of 
Detroit, switched to join Republicans to approve the bill.

Another House-passed measure that would create a pilot program to do 
suspicion-based drug testing of welfare recipients has been sitting 
on the Senate floor since June.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom