Adults receiving welfare assistance would have to undergo a drug test under a measure approved Monday by a legislative panel.

A House of Representatives budget subcommittee on human services passed House Bill 2388. The measure, which passed 6-2, now goes to the full House.

HB 2388 would require adults applying for welfare assistance to be tested before they could receive money through the federal cash-assistance Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. Recipients receive debit cards and can use the money how they best see fit.

Rep. Guy Liebmann, the bill's main author, said it is similar to a measure passed and signed into law last year in Florida that has been challenged in federal court. The purpose of the bill is to stop government money going to people who spend it on illegal drugs, he said.