Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) has signed into law a bill that requires applicants for welfare and unemployment benefits to undergo drug testing if there is “reasonable suspicion” they are using drugs. People who test positive would have to undergo drug treatment and job training at state expense before becoming eligible for cash assistance. According to Senate Bill 149, “reasonable suspicion” may be derived from “applicant’s or recipient’s demeanor, missed appointments and arrest or other police records, previous employment or application for employment in an occupation or industry that regularly conducts drug screening, etc.” Brownback says the state had an obligation to its residents to help them break their addictions and improve their lives through treatment and job training. Critics of the bill, including the American Civil Liberties Union state chapter, argued that public benefits recipients don’t use drugs any more frequently than anyone else, that such laws perpetuate existing stigmas, and that they unnecessarily invade privacy. But those arguments did not sway the legislature or the governor.
