Bill to test drug use in unemployment insurance applicants

Georgia Congressman, Earl “Buddy” Carter, recently submitted a bill that would authorise states to use drug testing to determine whether an applicant is eligible to receive unemployment insurance benefits.

The proposed Ensuring Quality in the Unemployment Insurance Program (EQUIP) Act would require states to assess all unemployment insurance applicants for drug abuse risk.

“The Unemployment Insurance program is an important safety net program for Americans across the country,” said Carter. “I introduced this legislation because it gives states the ability to ensure the resources of this program are going to those who truly need it while saving taxpayer dollars in the process. Unemployment Insurance recipients should be drug-free and ready to re-enter the workforce and my legislation works to make that happen.”

The assessment would use a screening protocol, authorised by the US National Institutes of Health, to discover if an applicant has a high risk of abusing drugs. High-risk applicants would then be required to take a drug test before receiving unemployment benefits.

When an applicant tested positive for using illegal drugs, they would be subject to limitations on receiving benefits. An applicant who tested positive for the first time would not receive unemployment insurance benefits for 30 days. It tested positive a second time, applicants would be ineligible to receive the benefits for the rest of the year.

Congress recently eliminated a US Department of Labor regulation, which prohibited states from using drug testing to determine the eligibility of applicants to receive unemployment benefits.