If you're out of work, Arizona lawmakers want to make you take a drug test before you get an unemployment check.

And the unemployed worker would have to pay for it.

Arizona state Sen. Steve Smith, R-Maricopa, said he wrote Senate Bill 1495 to ensure people who get unemployment benefits are deserving. He doesn't consider anyone who uses drugs fit for assistance.

"If you are so fortunate to live in a nation to get an unemployment check ... when you're down on your luck, the very least you should be able to do is prove you're of sound mind and body to earn -- earn -- that benefit," Smith told members of the House Appropriations Committee on Thursday.

The committee passed the measure Thursday on a 7-6 vote over the protests of the business community and concerns about conflicts with federal law.

It will now be considered by the full House of Representatives. While its prospects there are shaky, it is the latest in a trend of attempts to erect hurdles for people who rely on government help.

In the past two years, 20 states have considered laws requiring drug tests for unemployment beneficiaries, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Indiana is the only state where a bill passed.

Last year, the Arizona Legislature considered a bill to drug-test anyone on food stamps. The bill eventually died.

This year's bill would require the state Department of Economic Security to set up a drug-testing program.

Any first-time applicant for unemployment benefits who gets a positive drug-test result would have to wait 30 days to retest and could not get benefits in the meantime.

Those already receiving benefits would face random tests, and anyone who failed would lose his or her current month's pay and be required to take monthly tests for the next six months.

The bill would require unemployed workers to pay for their tests, which run $35 to $45 at one Valley lab. However, Smith said, drug tests can be had for $20.

As of mid-March, 81,999 Arizonans were receiving unemployment checks of $240 a week, according to the DES. The money comes from a tax paid by employers. In exchange for participating in the program, employers receive a federal tax break.

Arizona provides 26 weeks of unemployment benefits, after which the federal government provides additional weeks.

"We've got to get our fiscal house in order," Smith said, adding that the bill is needed to end "waste, fraud and abuse" in state and federal programs.

Smith's arguments didn't go over well with committee members. Even those who voted for the bill indicated they might be a "no" if the bill isn't further changed.

"We're chasing the wrong federal program," said Rep. Vic Williams, R-Tucson. "This is not a welfare program."

The assumption that people who file unemployment claims are drug abusers is "wrong-minded," Williams said. The recession has swelled the number of people on unemployment, he said, not sloth or drug abuse.

"We are going down the wrong road in Arizona when so-called conservative programs go after the business community," he said.

Representatives of the Arizona and Greater Phoenix chambers of commerce and numerous other businesses opposed the bill.

Marc Osborn, representing the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry, said the bill could imperil the federal tax break for employers. He said the U.S. Department of Labor has noted several areas where SB 1495 conflicts with federal law.

In a letter to the state DES, which administers unemployment, Gay Gilbert, administrator of the federal Office of Unemployment Insurance, said it is unconstitutional to require a drug test as a condition for unemployment benefits.

Gilbert added that federal law also requires anyone denied unemployment benefits to appeal, which is not included in the Arizona bill.

The requirement for the person to pay for drug-testing costs also is troublesome, Gilbert wrote, because it could discourage people from applying for benefits in a timely manner -- which could run afoul of a requirement to provide benefits quickly.

Smith called the concerns a "bluff," saying he doubts the federal government would enforce restrictions by removing the tax break.

However state Rep. Nancy McLain, R-Bullhead City, said she doesn't want to take that gamble. It's employers who would suffer, said McLain, who owns a small business.

Appropriations Chairman John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, proposed an amendment to authorize a drug-testing program that fits with federal law. It passed.

The federal law, changed last month by Congress, lets states drug-test unemployment applicants in two cases: If the individual was fired for drug abuse, or if the person is seeking a job that requires drug testing. People receiving unemployment benefits are expected to search for jobs.

Rep. Justin Olson, R-Mesa, said the fix is simple: Amend the bill to require drug testing in those two circumstances. That way, Arizona employers would still comply with the federal unemployment program.

Smith indicated he might not accept those limitations. He's interested in a wider test of unemployment recipients. In Indiana, the year-old drug-testing law allows, but does not require, employers to report people who fail a pre-employment drug test. If the state confirms those results, the individual can lose unemployment benefits, said Valerie Kroeger, a state spokeswoman. She did not have statistics on program results.

Kroeger said another Indiana program has found little problem with drug abuse among the unemployed. State policy requires people who enroll in a job-training program to take drug tests.

Of the 2,500 people who have enrolled in the program, 97.5 percent tested clean.