SS/SCS/HB 30 - This act requires the Department of Social Services to develop a program to screen and test each work-eligible applicant or work-eligible recipient who is otherwise eligible for temporary assistance for needy families benefits. The program shall provide for the screening of such applicant or recipient who the department has reasonable cause to believe engages in illegal use of controlled substances. Such applicants or recipients shall be assigned to a case worker from the family support division for an interview to determine the level of use or abuse of illegal controlled substances. If after conducting the interview, the case worker still has reasonable cause to believe that the recipient engages in abuse of illegal controlled substances, the applicant or recipient shall be tested for controlled substances. Any applicant or recipient who is found to have tested positive for the use of a controlled substance after an administrative hearing shall be declared ineligible for temporary assistance for needy families benefits for a period of one year from the date of the administrative hearing decision. The department shall refer an applicant or recipient who tested positive for the use of a controlled substance under this act to an appropriate substance abuse treatment program approved by the division of alcohol and drug abuse within the department of mental health. Other members of a household which includes a person who has been declared ineligible for TANF benefits shall, if otherwise eligible, continue to receive TANF benefits as protective or vendor payments to a third-party payee for the benefit of the members of the household. The department shall promulgate rules to develop the screening and testing provisions of this section.
ADRIANE CROUSE