MI Gov. Signs Bill Tying Drug Testing to Unemployment Benefits

Gov. Rick Snyder?(R-MI)?is about as popular as a jenkem addict at a cocktail party these days, and for good reason. Not only is Michigan considering drug testing welfare recipients, Snyder signed a bill last Tuesday tying drug testing to unemployment benefits, as well.

Unemployed residents who fail or refuse a drug test issued by a potential employer as a precondition for employment would be considered in violation of the agreement that one is “suitable for work“.

State Rep. Ken?Goike (R-Ray Twp.)?said?in a testimony before the?House Commerce Committee?in September:

The law currently states that in order to receive unemployment benefits an individual must be actively looking for and able to take suitable work.?It is my opinion that if you are not able to pass a drug test, you are not suitable for work.

Goike added after the bill’s passing in late October:

It’s all about personal responsibility. Obviously if you’re doing drugs and the job requires that you be drug free, then you’re not willing and able to do the work.

If it is about responsibility, why, then, does the state move to take responsibility away from unemployed workers by installing a penalty that lacks any real enforced follow-through? Why must workers be “whipped into shape” by state and federal government? When, instead, will these structures begin to examine the conditions that bring about unemployment and despondent workers in the first place? When will they, in short, begin to examine themselves?

Nevermind a discussion as to what should and should not be considered “drugs,” or that one can drink like a mosquito in a blood bank every day without hassle — leave that joint alone or starve! Because, you know, if one smokes a joint, one is too busy and wasted to apply for jobs, or even show up for them, right? Let alone learn how to push buttons and flip burgers (quickly the only jobs being left Americans in this “recovering” economy). Have they thought about the ripple effect such an act could have on the housing market, etc.?

Regardless, Goike was moved to launch the bill after speaking to an auto supplier in Macomb County who wished to hire 100 new employees but found that roughly fifty percent of the potential workers tested did not yield the desired results. Goike claims the plant manager was furious.

House Bill 4952 was part of a six-bill cluster narrowed down to five upon passing, according to MLive. The package aims to reform Michigan’s unemployment insurance system, bringing it up to date with several new federal rules of which the drug testing was not one. Nevertheless, all bills were tied together. If one was to pass, they all had to pass. And they did, which included measures to give the state more power to recover payments made to fraudulent claims; authorize charges to employers who fail to provide required information and documents; as well as change how such recovered funds are redistributed.

State Rep. Frank Foster of Petoskey sponsored three of the bills included with the drug-testing proposal.?He claims the bills were introduced together? to help cultivate a vibrant, sustainable unemployment system. He said:

We want to make sure we’re addressing the whole problem — the commonality of the issues.

House Republican spokesperson Ari Adler said?of the bill in September:

We put it together so it can stay together. It’s all related.

Rep. Foster has also said:

Employers have jobs they want to fill that can lower the unemployment rate and get Michigan’s economy moving… That’s what we’re doing here with the drug testing of people who obviously don’t want to work. It’s a workforce development issue.? If they’d rather sit home and do drugs, then maybe they’re not ready for work and aren’t ready for those benefits.

Other supporters of the bill, such as Sen. Mark Jansen (R-Gaines Twp.) have said, “They’re going to have to come to the realization that they shouldn’t be doing drugs. It’s illegal, and it can cost you your job, and now your unemployment. I’m not sure what’s wrong with that. To me, that’s not politics.”

Shall we test the bankers while we’re at it then, as well? Shall members of state and federal government be tested just the same? Shouldn’t everyone be tested, if anyone? State Rep. Jon Switalski (D-Warren) thinks so. He said:

If we are going to take one segment of those who receive public assistance, or are on the public payroll, we should be drug testing everyone on the public dole, and that should start with legislators. It’s always about deeming whether someone is suitable for work.

(Sen. Jansen, it’s worth noting, also added language to the Goike bill protecting prescription drugs, but it remains to be seen whether medical marijuana will be exempted from the law, as well.)

It is important to note that this drug testing bill has about as many teeth as a crackhead after a chain fight, though, so don’t worry too much. The bill “allows” but does not require prospective employers to report any test failures or refusals to the state. It also amounts to potential fees for employers and more red-tape, bureaucratic paperwork. Why would they bother?

Political posturing, most are guessing, and most likely they are correct. After all, it sounds good, right? And elections are just around the corner, relatively speaking. Time to start collecting that street cred for next year like bitcoin stock. Luckily, though, the bill also includes a measure that it must be revisited in one year to determine if it is indeed useful.

Depressingly, in none of this dialogue, not even by the protesting Democrats, is anyone talking about the root question as to whether government should even have the right to drug test citizens in the first place, let alone private companies. And how does keeping the unemployed unemployed and wallowing in drugs going to turn around the economy?

As Sen. Coleman Young II (D-Detroit) said during a floor speech in October:

If you were really interested in people gaining employment, you wouldn’t kick them and their families off of unemployment insurance, you would offer them drug treatment so they could live a sober life.

Let’s face it, a majority of those “dirty” results are not from hard, life-altering drugs that lead people into desperate spirals, but simple, common, voter-approved marijuana. Perhaps finally embracing the will of the people across the state of Michigan, if not the entire country, and legalizing marijuana would help solve this problem too, as well as a handful of others. That plant manager in Macomb would have had a far better go of it, to be sure. No doubt.

Gov. Rick Snyder stated upon signing the bill:

These are necessary updates to make sure Michigan is in line with federal requirements. They will also help strengthen the unemployment insurance system by reducing fraud.

One can be thankful at the very least for Rep. Switalski’s clear and common sense that the Legislature should not base public policy off of the experience of one employer. Seems legit to this voter.

State Rep. Vicki Barnett (D-Farmington Hills) said:

Of the potential problems with Goike’s bill, “someone who hasn’t even offered a prospective employee a job now has the ability to kick them off unemployment, and if they want to appeal, they could have to disclose medical conditions in order to defend themselves.

Something to consider, at the very least.

Edited/Published by: SB

 

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