Top 10 for worst governor winner Rick Scott just took another
loss in his war on people. His 2011 law requiring drug tests for people applying for welfare has been struck down.
The three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, in Atlanta, ruled that the law, one of the strictest in the country, was an unreasonable search because Florida officials had failed to show a “substantial need” to test all people who applied for welfare benefits. Applicants were required to submit to urine tests, a measure that Mr. Scott said would protect children of welfare applicants by ensuring that their parents were not buying and using drugs.
The only thing that would have been better is if the judges had awarded Florida's welfare recipients a chance to throw nerf balls with the words "Big Fat Hypocrite" at Gov. Rick Scott as part of the decision. There are other states who have passed laws mandating drug testing but they don't have the courage to do it as unconstitutionally as Florida has.
Though it has been written before, it's worth adding this quote, for the fiscal conservatives out there:
Because the Florida law required that applicants who passed the test be reimbursed for the cost, an average of $30, the cost to the state was $118,140. This was more than would have been paid in benefits to the people who failed the test.
