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West Virginia Senate passes bill to make drug tests for welfare recipients permanent

By Steven Allen Adams, The Intelligencer

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Senate voted Wednesday to allow the state to continue a three-year program to screen recipients of public assistance for drug use permanently.

Senate Bill 387 relating to drug screening of applicants for cash assistance passed 24-9 with Democratic Sens. Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell, and Bob Plymale, D-Wayne, voting with the Republican majority.

SB 387 would extend a three-year pilot program through the Department of Health and Human Resources that screens applicants of West Virginia’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. The program would continue to Dec. 31, 2022, and gives the secretary of DHHR authority to continue the program beyond that date.

“DHHR believes this program needs to be extended,” said Senate Health and Human Resources Committee Chairman Mike Maroney, R-Marshall. “It seems like this program is working, and that’s why DHHR wants to continue this program.”

To read more: https://www.theintelligencer.net/news/top-headlines/2021/03/west-virginia-senate-passes-bill-to-make-drug-tests-for-welfare-recipients-permanent/

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