N.C. gov. vetoes welfare drug testing bill

Posted to: News North Carolina

By Gary D. Robertson
The Associated Press
© August 15, 2013
RALEIGH, N.C.

A drug-testing requirement for some welfare applicants and less restrictive demands on employers checking on workers who may be in the country illegally were the first two bills Thursday that Pat McCrory vetoed as North Carolina’s governor.

The Republican governor said some of the drug-testing bill demands were fiscally irresponsible, potentially intrusive and punitive in restricting future access to benefits that could hurt families.

“This administration believes there are better ways to fight addiction and prevent criminal drug abuse,” McCrory wrote in his formal veto message to legislators.

“However, this is not the best way forward and I must veto this bill.”

The other measure would have exempted employers from using the federal E-Verify system for temporary workers of less than nine months in a calendar year, compared to no more than three months in a 12-month period that is currently law. The bill, designed in part to help farmers who need seasonal labor, would make it easier to hire immigrants who are in the country illegally in more industries than just agriculture, McCrory said.

“Every job an illegal immigrant takes is one less job available for a legal North Carolina citizen,” McCrory said in a prepared statement. “We must do everything we can to help protect jobs for North Carolinians first and foremost.”

The governor is now required to call the General Assembly back to Raleigh by early September so lawmakers can attempt to override his vetoes. Both measures passed the House and Senate in the legislative session’s final days last month by wide veto-proof margins. A veto override requires yes votes from three-fifths of the members present in each chamber.

McCrory did issue an separate executive order dated Wednesday that attempts to address a portion of the drug-testing bill that would have subjected welfare and food stamp applicants to expanded background criminal history checks. The order directs the Department of Health and Human Services to ensure that county social services offices conduct criminal checks for first-time or renewing applicants.

McCrory, who took office in January, said the executive order reflects his support for “efforts to ensure that fugitive felons are not on public assistance rolls.”

The bills would have to first be considered by the House, where Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, expressed displeasure with the vetoes.

Tillis said in a statement that while the executive order “shows agreement on important aspects of the bill, I will consult with members of the House and Senate on the questions that remain as we move forward.” Tillis said the immigration bill, which largely is comprised of a wide-ranging study on immigration matters, “received strong bipartisan support and sought to provide clarity to employers and agencies regarding the impact of illegal immigration in North Carolina.”

The governor’s office pointed out legislators provided no funds for the Department of Public Safety to carry out the study.

North Carolina Farm Bureau backed the E-Verify change in part because the 90-day exemption doesn’t meet the needs of diversified farms and greenhouse and turf operations. All North Carolina employers with at least 25 workers must use the system to check new hires.

“We had hoped that Gov. McCrory would have allowed the legislation to become law,” bureau President Larry Wooten said in a release.

The welfare bill would have directed state HHS to administer a drug test to any applicant to or recipient of the Work First welfare program who the agency “reasonably suspects is engaged in the illegal use of controlled substances.” A person who tests positive for drugs would have to pay for any substance abuse program or drug retest should they want to reapply for benefits soon.

The current law already requires local social service agencies to screen for substance abusers and potentially help with treatment, but no drug testing is required. Supporters of the bill said people with drug problems shouldn’t be getting money from the state they could use to buy drugs instead of food and clothing for their families.

McCrory’s office said drug testing in welfare programs in Utah, Arizona and elsewhere “proved to be expensive and ineffective at catching drug abusers.”

McCrory now has 35 bills on his desk that he must decide by Aug. 25 whether to sign, veto or let become law without his signature. He has already signed several high-profile bills since the legislature adjourned three weeks ago, including tougher rules on abortion, loosened regulations on carrying concealed weapons and a wide-ranging election overhaul measure that requires photo identification to vote in person.

The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina, which helped sue McCrory this week to challenge the new elections law, praised the governor Thursday for his veto of the drug-testing bill.

The measure “would have opened the door to costly and unnecessary government intrusions into the physical privacy of North Carolinians who need public assistance to care for their families,” said state ACLU executive director Jennifer Rudinger.
http://hamptonroads.com/2013/08/nc-gov-vetoes-welfare-drug-testing-bill