BREAKING: Alabama Lawmakers Require Drug Testing Before Giving Welfare

One of the great things that’s happening at the state level today is the movement to reform entitlement programs, which are frequently plagued with fraud and abuse.

In Florida, a bill passed by the legislature would send those who game the welfare system to prison.  Louisiana just banned welfare benefits from being used at jewelry stores, tattoos parlors, nail salons, and other businesses where the use of taxpayer dollars to make purchases would be inappropriate.

We’ve also seen a few states like Mississippi take up measures requiring drug testing of welfare recipients in order to prevent drug abusers from living on the taxpayers’ dime.  The Alabama legislature has just now followed suit by passing a similar law that would require drug testing of welfare applicants with drug convictions on their records. From the Associated Press:

The Alabama Legislature has approved a bill to drug test welfare applicants who have had drug convictions within the last five years.

The House of Representatives voted 73-27 for the bill Thursday. It now goes to Gov. Robert Bentley for his signature.

A person could keep their benefits after one positive drug test. After a second positive, the person would be ineligible for one year. The recipient would be permanently ineligible after a third positive drug test.

(H/T: Right Wing News)

This is great news.  It should be obvious that taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to subsidize the lifestyles of drug abusers.  The Alabama law identifies those who are likely to abuse the system by using drug convictions to determine who should be tested, meaning that the state wouldn’t be wasting more money than it would save by testing everyone in the system.  More state should follow the lead of Mississippi and Alabama and protect taxpayers from welfare abuse.

http://conservativetribune.com/al-testing-welfare/