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Senate Committee Approves State Worker Drug Tests

February 29, 2012 | WMFE - A State Senate panel narrowly cleared a bill Tuesday that would allow state agencies to randomly drug test their employees.

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By one vote, a Senate Budget Subcommittee approved the Senate’s version of a House bill that allows for random drug testing of state employees every three months but the tests can't be performed on more than 10 percent of an agency's workforce. The bills also make it easier to fire a worker after the first confirmed positive test.

Representative Oscar Braynon, a Democrat from Miami, voted against the bill. He says it doesn’t make sense to move forward while a legal challenge on the issue is pending.

"There’s currently a hearing going on in the courts and we’ll find out if this is even constitutional.” Braynon said. “So I think we’ll be back next year and we’ll be able to do this, if they say this it’s something we can do, but at this point I can’t support this until we get further clarification on the Executive Order by the Governor.”

The measure passed on a 4 to 3 vote. The American Civil Liberties  Union and public worker unions are opposing the bills as unfair and they say the tests are unconstitutional "searches" under the Fourth Amendment.

 

 

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