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governor rick scott took office and made drug testing welfare recipients a thing, and any and all florida residents receiving benefits from temporary benefits and families would have the privilege of urinating in a cup because of scorick scott. but now in alabama, the idea of testing welfare recipients is still catching on. so now we have in indiana a propo proposal to order people to have written drug tests pass ed ed be house of representatives so they know that you are not allowed to take the urinalysis so they will ask you, do you need a drink to steady your nerves in the morning and that is about to be
but the track record here is not that good. consider florida. florida saved $48,000 testing welfare recipients for drugs. but they had to spend $118,000 on the drug tests. the state there requires that citizens who test negative for drugs get reimbursed for the drug testing. in utah $20,000 for these tests. wyoming is saying they are going to test for unemployment. workers who want to get jobless claims they think they are going to save over a million dollars in each of three years. but i think we have to wait and see because so far the test results are not good. >> the story originated out of wyoming, are other states ready to jump on board this idea? >> i think so. seven states already testing welfare applicants for drugs and now we're going to see more and more people testing unemployment applicants for drugs because the federal government has dropped some of its objections to this. so i think because states are looking for money everywhere they can, they are going to do everything they can to save every last dime.
anybody thinking about taking you up on it? >> i heard that two of them had agreed to do it so that only leaves i think 158 more. i'm holding my breath. >> what is the justification for testing welfare recipients and state employees but not anybody else who receives state funds? like lawmakers, as you suggest, like state contractors, lottery winners, why just people on welfare and state employees? >> it's an easy target. this is class warfare. this is picking on the folks who happen to be unemployed especially ones with children. they're testing at a lower rate than the general population. the most recent federal drug survey shows national drug use at 8.9%, almost 9%. these people are living like monks compared to them. it's very easy and it's very popular to go after the poor and the disabled and those who are
leaves i think 158 more. i'm holding my breath. >> what is the justification for testing welfare recipients and state employees but not anybody else who receives state funds? like lawmakers, as you suggest, like state contractors, lottery winners, why just people on welfare and state employees? >> it's an easy target. this is class warfare. this is picking on the folks who happen to be unemployed especially ones with children. they're testing at a lower rate than the general population. the most recent federal drug survey shows national drug use at 8.9%, almost 9%. these people are living like monks compared to them. it's very easy and it's very popular to go after the poor and the disabled and those who are struggling to get work right now. and that's what they did. my point was that these legislators control $70 billion in -- that's the size of our state budget. they should be first in line for any drug testing. immediately. it would be a public service.
for state lawmakers to be drug tested, any reaction so far? anybody thinking about taking you up on it? >> i heard that two of them had agreed to do it so that only leaves i think 158 more. i'm holding my breath. >> what is the justification for testing welfare recipients and state employees but not anybody else who receives state funds? like lawmakers, as you suggest, like state contractors, lottery winners, why just people on welfare and state employees? >> it's an easy target. this is class warfare. this is picking on the folks who happen to be unemployed especially ones with children. they're testing at a lower rate than the general population. the most recent federal drug survey shows national drug use at 8.9%, almost 9%. these people are living like monks compared to them. it's very easy and it's very popular to go after the poor and the disabled and those who are struggling to get work right
scrutiny. if you look at chandler versus miller, you have got a supreme court case, what you are doing is you are doing a test of someone's tune without suspicion. that's a guarded class. man this particular case, what the court found was you can't just randomly search the urine of those who want to run for state office because again there is no suspicion. these aren't people in sensitive positions or high-risk jobs. it's a random group of people. we are only 2% fail the drug tests. megyn: the legal theory is there has to be a special need. they okayed the testing of high school athletes because there is a special need to protect children on the football field from other children on drugs. is there a special need if testing welfare recipients? >> who are giving the money and providing the monies for the