Texas Governor Wants Welfare, Unemployment Applicants To Pee In A Cup

Texas is poised to join the drug-testing bandwagon.

By Seth Freed Wessler Nov 16, 2012

Texas Governor Rick Perry this week threw his weight behind a bill to require all welfare and unemployment applicants to submit to a drug test. The bill, [SB 11](http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/83R/billtext/html/SB00011I.htm), was filed on Monday by Republican state Senator Jane Nelson. It deem those who fail a drug test ineligible for assistance for up to a year. The [Texas bill ](http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/83R/billtext/html/SB00011I.htm)takes the drug testing regime a to new extremes. Not only will a failed test lead to loss of benefits, it also requires the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to report mothers and fathers who fail tests to Child Protective Services. As I [reported earlier this year](https://colorlines.com/archives/2012/05/drug_testing.html), dozens of state legislatures considered similar bills in the last two legislative sessions and in several states they became law.