State Seal of the Commonwealth of Virginia

Are all these GOP state legislators and governors meeting up on the same Facebook page? One would think so given the speed with which these usually slow-moving politicians on issues like clean energy and environmental protection have embraced bills to drug test people collecting welfare and unemployment checks. The latest entry is Virginia. Before that it was South Carolina, as Laura Clawson discussed . Before that there was Ohio and before that there was Florida

Never mind that a federal judge blocked the Florida law drug-testing welfare recipients after an ACLU lawsuit argued it violated the ban on illegal search and seizure. Never mind that South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) was shown to have made a wildly inaccurate claim that half the applicants for jobs tested positive for drugs at Virginia's Savannah River (nuclear) Site. Never mind that the lawsuits and extra paperwork cost states more money than they expect to save with this constitutionally suspect intrusion into the lives of people who have fallen on hard times. Never mind that drug tests routinely throw up false positives. Never mind all that, Virginia Republicans are planning to move ahead with drug testing anyway.

State Sen. Richard Black said:

"Frankly, I think the use of drugs for some people is the reason they are unemployed," Black said. "I don't believe that taxpayers have an obligation to pay for recreational drug use ... And I think if a person has the money to pay for illicit drugs, then they have the money to support themselves." Over objections by Virginia House Democrats, the Committee on Health and Welfare Institutions on Tuesday approved one of several bills that would require welfare recipients to be screened in order to qualify for assistance. The bill would require every person on public assistance in Virginia to be evaluated to determine the likelihood that they are on drugs. Anyone who aroused suspicion in an initial screening would have to submit to a drug test or be thrown off public assistance for one year. ... Delegate Lionell Spruill, a Democrat on the health and welfare committee, said he strongly opposed the bill. "All the Democrats on the committee voted no, and one Republican voted no with us," Spruill said. "We believe it's wrong, and we believe it's illegal to do so."

It's not just welfare recipients who the Commonwealth's Republicans want to test for drugs. The jobless in Virginia would get the same scrutiny before they can collect unemployment checks. Two bills are now in the state House Committee on Commerce and Labor that would require out-of-work Virginians seeking unemployment benefits to submit to a drug test before they could collect their checks.

The bill's sponsor says it wouldn't cost anything because the applicants and current recipients, of whom there are currently 402,404 in the state, would have to pay the cost of drug testing. Even if the test turns up negative. But state officials contradict the no-cost claim. They say the extra time in notifying recipients and reviewing the drug tests could cost up to $1 million.

Here's a modest proposal for some enterprising Democratic member of the Virginia House of Delegates or Senate. Put forth a resolution stating that no more drug-testing bills for welfare or unemployment benefit recipients may be submitted until the legislature sets up Breathalyzer units at the chamber doors and requires Republican members who want to collect their state-funded paychecks to pee into a cup once a week (with an objective witness on hand to ensure no cheating). Fair is fair.