Arkansans who apply for certain job-training benefits and other family aid could be required to take a drug test under a bill endorsed by a House committee.
The House Committee on Public Health, Welfare and Labor sent the bill to the full House in a voice vote Thursday. It would create a two-year pilot program in which the Department of Workforce Services would be required to question applicants and to refer people deemed as suspicious for drug testing.
The change would apply to about 12,000 people in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. All recipients in counties bordering Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and Tennessee would be screened because those states have similar laws.
Opponents questioned whether the $2 million-plus cost of the program is a good use of taxpayer funds.
