Indiana's state lawmakers would have to submit to drug tests before they get perks like parking spots and laptops under
a plan advanced Monday by the state House of Representatives.
The testing proposal is part of a bill introduced by Rep. Jud McMillin, R-Brookville, that would mandate Indiana's welfare
recipients take drug tests before receiving any assistance. But McMillin withdrew his measure last week after lawmakers amended
it to also require lawmakers to submit to drug tests.
McMillin said he withdrew the measure because the drug testing of legislators would be unconstitutional. But he brought a
diluted version the bill back for consideration on Monday.
"This particular amendment would provide for legislative drug testing in in a way that I fully believe would meet constitutional
muster," he said.
Indiana lawmakers overwhelmingly chose McMillin's pared-down drug test for themselves Monday, voting 81-15 for the proposal.
The diluted plan would limit the number of lawmakers who are tested and give the House speaker and Senate president pro tem
the power to test lawmakers they suspect of using drugs.
Democrats argued that Indiana's poor should not be the lone targets of drug testing, in one instance offering an amendment
that would have mandated business owners who receive tax breaks and loans from the state take drug tests as well.
"I think at some point the people of Indiana want consistency when government money is given, about whether or not somebody
is drug free when they accept it," said Rep. Ryan Dvorak, D-South Bend, who authored the original amendment requiring
lawmakers to submit to the tests.
The overarching question of constitutionality and Fourth Amendment protections against search and seizure has led federal
courts to block drug-testing of welfare recipients in other states.
A federal judge ordered last year that Florida's testing law be put on hold while a challenge from the ACLU and a single
father works its way through the courts. A federal appeals court blocked Michigan's attempt to mandate drug testing in
2003.
IBJNews
Indiana House dilutes drug tests for lawmakers
Associated Press
January 30, 2012
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Well, we could blame ABC because they haven't advertised the INDY 500....not during the HUGE TV rating shows like Dancing with the Stars (of which IICS driver Helio Castroneves is a former champion). He never won a CART championship, did he?
We could blame the new car...because it's ugly and has a V6 that has less horsepower than the pace car. CART (to my knowledge) never had that problem with cars they presented at the speedway years 1979 through 1995.
We could blame the fencepost, but that would be crass. Or maybe Danica? Or maybe Jean Alesi....or boost increases from constant rules tampering. Maybe we could blame Penske who still is winning everything as usual.
Maybe we can blame the world for not understanding the the great Indy gods who regularly twist things in such ways that we mere mortals must only accept, but never question.
So, it does beg the question....who is responsible if the series and Indy continues to flounder? Are the responsibilities so diffuse and complicated that no one really is to blame for it's fall from grace?
I urge the speedway to sign on for 7 more years of ABC coverage and 7 more years of NBC Sports Network coverage. It been win-win so far....*cough* *cough* -
"They're problem was thinking they were bigger than the institution that made their existence possible. That turned out to be a mistake."
The above quote made by Disciple shows his continued inability to grasp a simple concept: CART is dead. Twice. It provided a brilliant stage for some of the best open wheel racing in all the past century of racing. It's gone DOOD, get over it.
PLEASE explain, Mr. Disciple of INDYCAR, why you continually hammer home, even on the eve of the 2012 Indy 500, this same point...over and over? Seriously, why does the legacy of CART haunt you so much?
The same problems that affected the sport for over a century of AOW racing STILL affect it now. Your answers (or lack thereof) belittle the very sport you claim to love. Indy rots in your hands yet you request status quo. You negate salient points with drivel...always.
Indy is not going to die. But, it is dying...are you willing to accept that? "Indy is a hot mess"....it's true. Yet you want it that way? What is wrong with you? -
I just want to make sure I am reading this right - Wellpoint is eliminating 112 employees. Wellpoint is a customer of Repucare. Repucare is creating 82 jobs. I sure hope they are hiring Wellpoint employees. Does not make sense!
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Triscuts...love um!
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Of course the fair will go on. Don't you big city reporters understand county fairs? Get outside the beltway and see what life is really like!
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you have to have a background check/drug test for just about every job, even as a state employee. why then there is no background check/drug test for legislators,
answer is, BECAUSE THEY MAKE THE LAW'S and don't like being treated like Normal people, they are, ABOVE THE LAW, don't you people know that by now... if they were tested, a lot would lose there jobs.
testing welfare people is about keeping the money. it's cost cutting, the less they have to pay out the more they keep, this law has nothing to do with getting people off drugs or finding clean people, it's about the state keep as much money as the can. Welfare, Unemployed is a shell game, they keep moving the target so you have to jump thru hoops, all along the state is wishing you make the wrong move. then "denied' that way, they keep more money. it's not about helping people at there lowest for a Republican, to a Republican it's 'THERE' money, not the tax payers. Yes, there are some deadbeats, but the same could be said about our legislators.
Proud resident of the Mississippi of the north!