This act requires all state elected officials to submit to chemical testing for determining drug content of the blood before taking office and once every two years thereafter. The person tested shall be responsible for the cost of the test, and upon request, will have access to the results.

To be considered valid, the test shall be administered according to methods approved by the Department of Health and Senior Services and shall be performed by licensed medical personnel. Refusal to take a drug test will be considered an admission of guilt, and the elected official will be subject to sanctions authorized by law. An official who tests positive for illegal drugs shall participate in a drug treatment program or face sanctions. Any state elected official who tests positive for drugs under this act shall be subject to any sanction authorized by law or rule of the respective official.

This act requires the Department of Social Services to develop a program to screen each work-eligible applicant or recipient of temporary assistance for needy families (TANF)benefits and then to test such applicant or recipient when the department has reasonable suspicion to believe, based on the screening, that such person engages in illegal use of controlled substances. Any applicant or recipient who refuses to participate in the testing process shall be declared ineligible for TANF benefits one year. 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 TANF benefits for a period of one year from the date of the administrative hearing decision.

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.

By September 30, 2010, the department shall develop and begin enforcement of a policy regarding employees who fail to report suspected illegal drug use under the program or fraudulent reporting of total household size or income under TANF. Such employees in violation of the policy shall be subject to immediate termination of employment.

By July 1, 2011, the department shall promulgate rules to develop the screening and testing provisions of this section.

By July 1, 2011, the department shall track and report to the general assembly the total number of reported incidents of suspected illegal drug use, suspected fraudulent reporting of total household size and income, and total number of fraud

TANF prosecutions.

This act is similar to SCS/SB 607 (2010), SCS/SB 73 (2009), similar to SB 1259 (2008).

ADRIANE CROUSE