The Senate has voted 19-16 in favor of HCR 55, a resolution from Rep. Rich Wills, R-Glenns Ferry, requiring the state Department of Health & Welfare to look into whether the state could save money by drug-testing recipients of welfare and other public benefits, and removing them from public assistance if they test positive. In extended debate, senators said they don't want to subsidize drug users, but they questioned the resolution's claim that such a study wouldn't cost anything, at a time of big budget cuts for Health & Welfare; they questioned the impact of such a move on federal funds for Idaho's assistance programs and on the children of those recipients; and they questioned how the move would help those now on lengthy waiting lists for substance abuse treatment in Idaho. Nevertheless, the measure narrowly passed.

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