Mean Testing Makes Money

As expected, Florida Republicans have sent a bill requiring drug testing for all welfare recipients to Gov. Rick Scott, and yesterday Scott signed the measure into law.  There's two angles here to the story:  One, a similar measure was found unconstitutional in 2003 as well as wasteful:

According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the drug testing of welfare recipients is likely unconstitutional and fiscally irresponsible. A Michigan law that required welfare recipients to receive random drug testing was struck down as unconstitutional by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in 2003. The average cost of a drug test is about $42 per person tested, not including other costs associated with administering the tests.

Additionally, a 1996 study conducted by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism found that welfare recipients were no more likely to use illegal drugs than the rest of the U.S. population.

“Once again, this governor has demonstrated his dismissal of both the law and the right of Floridians to personal privacy by signing into law a bill that treats those who have lost their jobs like suspected criminals," Howard Simon, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, said in a statement.

“The wasteful program created by this law subjects Floridians who are impacted by the economic downturn, as well as their families, to a humiliating search of their urine and body fluids without cause or even suspicion of drug abuse."

Second, Rick Scott owns millions of shares of a chain of medical facilities in Florida that among other services provides drug testing.  In March Scott signed a law forcing all state and local government employees to submit to quarterly random drug tests, something that will drive nearly $4 million a year to the clinic chain that his wife now owns $62 million in stock in.  The new welfare drug testing will drive millions more.  Naturally with millions of additional drug tests to perform each year, more of these drug testing clinics will need to be built in Florida to handle the demand.

That's how Republicans roll.  Scott could give a damn about public safety or privacy, but it sure is going to make him a lot of money personally.