A contentious measure to screen and drug-test some welfare recipients and to limit food-stamp use to only "nutritional" foods has resurfaced in the Indiana General Assembly with little time left to vote on the bill.
Welfare abuse is driving an Indiana effort to require recipients to be screened for the likelihood of addiction and limit food stamps to the purchase of only “nutritional foods.”
House Bill 1351, authored by Rep. Jud McMillin, R-Brookville, would require some recipients of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families to undergo drug testing. The bill passed 71-22.
The bill would require Indiana residents to be screened through a questionnaire and drug tested if they show a likelihood of addiction.
A proposed law that would require some welfare recipients to undergo drug testing is likely to pass the Indiana House again this year, a key lawmaker said Thursday.
A legislative committee is backing a proposal to require drug testing for some Indiana welfare recipients despite complaints that it's unfair to the state's neediest residents.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Pence said Tuesday that marriage is the best route for breaking children out of the cycle of poverty and called on regulators to think about whether policies promote or dissuade marriage.
The real reason Indiana canceled its nearly $1.4 billion contract with IBM for a troubled welfare automation system was state budget problems, a lawyer for the computer giant argued Tuesday. But the state said IBM was more concerned about profit than getting assistance to needy people.
The core issue in a dispute over a project to modernize Indiana's welfare system — whether IBM breached the billion-dollar contract — wasn't addressed when a judge dismissed 17 of the state's claims against the computer giant, an attorney for the state said Monday.
The lawmaker-testing proposal is part of a bill that would mandate Indiana's welfare recipients take drug tests before receiving any assistance.
Two Indiana Republicans want welfare recipients to pass drug tests before they can receive benefits but similar measures have run up against Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure.
If Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels can promote his book and lead a motorcycle tour, he isn't too busy to testify about his decision to cancel a contract with IBM Corp. to automate welfare applications, the technology giant contends in a court filing.
Indiana officials have settled a class-action lawsuit that claimed the state wasn't following federal laws over the opportunity for voter registration at public assistance offices.
More than half of the state's new applications for food stamps and other welfare assistance are being submitted online, Indiana social services chief Michael Gargano told lawmakers Tuesday.
IBM wants to depose Daniels soon because it's concerned he will announce he's running for president and would be too busy on the campaign trail to give a deposition.
Gov. Mitch Daniels and his chief of staff were both deeply involved in Indiana's decision to outsource the automation of welfare intake, and they should provide depositions in lawsuits over IBM Corp., a lawyer for the company argues in a brief.
The secretary of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration said error rates are down and the percentage of new applications for food stamps, Medicaid and other benefits on backlog has fallen by 83 percent in two two regions.
Initial jobless claims fell by 6,000, to 472,000, in the week ended Aug. 28, in line with the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, Labor Department figures show.
Indiana will no longer reduce a state grocery benefit paid to hundreds of developmentally disabled people simply because they
receive food stamps
IBM says it is owed nearly $53 million in fees and equipment expenses under the 2006 contract. The state says in its lawsuit
that it has paid $437 million to IBM and has received “minimal value” in return.
