Tag: TANF

House Rejects Four Amendments to TANF Drug Testing Bill

The House of Delegates will vote on a bill Wednesday that would require drug testing for recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

Senate Bill 6 requires the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources to apply for permission from the federal government to begin a drug screening and testing program.

In that program, applicants for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or TANF benefits could be tested if there’s “reasonable suspicion” those applicants are using drugs or if they’ve been convicted of a drug crime in the past three years.

The bill creates a three strike system within the program. After one failed drug test, the TANF recipient does not lose any benefits, but must enter a rehabilitative or workforce training program. After the second failed test, the recipient loses benefits for one year or until completion of the workforce or rehabilitative program. After a third failed test, he or she loses benefits for life.

In any step in the process, the benefits given to children in the home will not be taken away. The DHHR is required to find another adult to distribute the benefits to, just like they do in other programs.

Delegates considered four amendments to the bill during a floor session Tuesday night. All four amendments were proposed by Democrats.

1. The first amendment would have removed marijuana from the list of drugs that could cause an applicant to lose his or her benefits. This bill was rejected.

The second and third amendments were ruled not relevant to the bill —

2. The second amendment would have required state lawmakers to be drug tested. If a legislator would have failed that test, he or she would have been required to enter a drug treatment program and would lose their pay.

3. The third amendment would have expanded the drug testing program beyond just those who are applying for TANF benefits to any person who is applying for funding from the state, including the officers of private companies.

But both amendments were ruled not relevant by House Speaker Tim Armstead.

4. The final amendment considered would have required the DHHR to obtain a warrant for the drug test from a judge. However, this amendment was also rejected.

Senate Bill 6 will be up for a vote in the House Wednesday.

A recent poll of likely West Virginia voters found 77 percent supported drug testing welfare recipients.

TANF Drug Testing Bill Soon to Be Considered in the House

A House committee has passed a bill that would require drug testing for recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

Senate Bill 6 requires the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources to apply for permission from the federal government to begin a drug screening and testing program.

In that program, applicants of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or TANF benefits could be tested if there’s “reasonable suspicion” those applicants are using drugs or if they’ve been convicted of a drug crime in the past five years. But House Judiciary Chairman John Shott said that provision was amended in his committee.

“And that was with regard to the screening instrument that the Department of Health and Human Resources will be using when new applicants come in, and it just changed the timeframe within which to look for previous drug use from five years to, shortened that to three years,” Shott said.

A recent poll of likely West Virginia voters found 77 percent of voters supported drug testing welfare recipients.

Senate Bill 6 was reported to the full House on Saturday and will likely see a vote Wednesday.

W.Va. Report: $55M in Welfare Programs Spent out of State

A West Virginia report says $55 million in two welfare programs was spent out of state in a year.

The House released the Department of Health and Human Resources report Wednesday at Republican Del. Jill Upson’s request.

The report says that of $457.2 million in benefits, $52.5 million was spent out of state on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps, from November 2014 through October 2015.

Neighboring Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia comprised 90 percent.

About $1 million was spent in North Carolina and Florida each.

Of $29.5 million in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefits over that timeframe, $2.2 million was spent out of state.

Under federal regulation, federally funded SNAP can be used at approved grocers outside the state.

Senate Will Vote to Drug Test Welfare Recipients

Updated 2/9/2016: The West Virginia Senate approved a three-year pilot drug testing program, 32-2. For more, click here.

Original story:

 Members of the West Virginia Senate are set to vote on a bill to drug test the recipients of public assistance. 

Senate Bill 6 creates a three-year pilot program to drug test recipients of TANF benefits. TANF stands for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

Sen. Ryan Ferns said the bill requires employees of the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources prove reasonable suspicion before drug testing a TANF recipient, which comes in two forms.

The first, recipients convicted of a drug-related offense in the last five years will be required to take a drug test. The second Ferns described as anyone who gives the impression they may be using an illegal drug or abusing a controlled substance. 

The bill sets out a three-strike system:

  • Strike One: no loss of benefits, requires recipient to enter rehabilitative and workforce training programs
  • Strike Two: loss of benefits for 12 months or until a rehabilitation or workforce training program has been completed, whichever is shorter
  • Strike Three: loss of benefits for life.

Benefits, however, will not be taken from dependent children in the home. Ferns says the bill requires the DHHR to find another qualified adult in their lives to take over distribution of child benefits, something he says the state already does in other cases.
“The drug epidemic has been increasingly harmful to our state,” Ferns said Monday. “It’s getting worse and worse all the time and we are looking at any possible way that we can assist individuals who need help and get them help.”

Those opposed to the bill maintain the screening process will allow for discrimination against minority and low-income West Virginians.

THe DHHR reports 3,536 individuals received TANF benefits in West Virginia in December 2015. 

The agency estimates the program will cost the state about $50,000 for its initial implementation and about $22,000 each year after.

Senators will vote on Senate Bill 6 Tuesday.

House Looks to Tackle 3 Social Issues in 2016

West Virginia families have been struggling with issues like substance abuse and poverty for decades.

This year, lawmakers are taking a hard look at ways they can combat these issues, and members of the House of Delegates are wasting no time at all.

  • House Bill 4021 – SNAP Benefits

This bill would require adults without dependents be employed or in a work program for at least 20 hours a week to continue to be eligible for SNAP benefits. SNAP is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
The bill would not affect seniors, people with disabilities, or those going to school.

“Right now the state’s in a money crunch,” said Democratic Delegate Patsy Trecost of Harrison County, “we need all hands on deck, we know by putting people back to work, or asking people to go to work, even if it’s just twenty hours a week, that’s gonna generate revenue for them, it’s gonna generate spending dollars, and essentially help the economy.”

Trecost is the lead sponsor of the bill and says House Bill 4021 is mainly trying to encourage West Virginians to get back to work.

  • House Bill 4010 – TANF Drug Screening

This bill would require drug screening and testing of applicants for TANF, or the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.
TANF offers temporary assistance to low-income families with the hope of making them more self-sufficient, but the bill would require those recipients to be drug tested before receiving their benefits.

If a recipient tests positive for a drug they don’t have a prescription for, he or she would then be required to go through a substance abuse treatment program to continue to receiving assistance. Children of those parents’ who test positive will not lose their benefits.

  • House Bill 4044 – Addiction Prevention and Treatment Fund

This bills would create the Ryan Brown Addiction Prevention and Recovery Fund Act. The fund would provide money for drug addiction prevention and treatment not otherwise covered by legislative appropriations, Medicare, Medicaid or private insurance.
“The Ryan Brown Addiction Prevention and Treatment Fund is designed to help those that don’t have any other means of payment,” said the bill’s lead sponsor, Republican Delegate Chris Stansbury of Kanawha County, “so they don’t qualify for Medicaid or they’re kind of in process waiting for that Medicaid to come through, or they don’t qualify for any other types of grants, public insurance, private insurance; anything like that, so it’s going to be a payer to help them get into recovery.”

Stansbury says he also hopes this bill will help decrease wait times for treatment by helping to fund new facilities.

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