A bill that would require drug tests for welfare recipients is slated to be introduced by two Republican lawmakers in South Dakota.

State Rep. Lynne DiSanto, R-Rapid City, and state Sen. Betty Olson, R-Prairie City, are putting together the bill, which they expected to introduce this week.

“The taxpayer-supported welfare system provides assistance to those in need. Those receiving the assistance should in return be expected to engage in responsible behavior,” said Rachel Sheffield, a policy analyst in the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at The Heritage Foundation.

“Requiring welfare recipients to stop engaging in the self-destructive practice of drug use is key in promoting personal responsibility,” she said of this latest state effort.

At least 13 states have passed legislation requiring drug screening for welfare assistance applicants or recipients: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Utah.

DiSanto, who herself received welfare assistance when she was a young, single mother, argues that welfare recipients should not use taxpayer dollars to finance drug habits.

DiSanto posted to her Facebook page Jan. 15:

I will be sponsoring legislation this year requiring welfare recipients to be drug tested. This is a controversial bill, and I will be under scrutiny over this. So let me share this:

I was a 20-year-old, single mom when my first son was born. I received welfare including food stamps, WIC and child care assistance. I worked full time and attended night classes during this time. I have all the respect for people who are utilizing these government safeguards to better themselves and become independent and self-supporting. However, if you can afford drugs you can afford food. The taxpayers do not need to subsidize your drug habit.

DiSanto told Keloland News that many employers require drug tests for job applicants. She said she sees no difference when it comes to drug-testing welfare applicants.

Under DiSanto’s bill, welfare applicants would pay a one-time fee of $25 to $30 for a drug test, Keloland News reported.

“The way that I look at it is sometimes people say that these kinds of things should be random,” DiSanto told WNAX-AM Radio. “But my thought is that if you are doing this in a random basis, how can you be sure that there will not be cases of discrimination, or a situation where a certain people are picked on, or instances of retaliation or things like that?” She added:

And so, I just think in order to avoid those types of problems, if we drug-test everyone, make it across the board, everybody undergoes the same task. Therefore, we don’t run the risk of certain people being alienated or picked on through the testing.

KCCR-AM Radio reported that if welfare applicants tested positive for drugs, they would not receive benefits. Those who test positive would be connected with treatment options.

In 2014, a South Dakota Senate committee rejected a measure that would require welfare recipients to undergo drug tests.  Opponents said such a bill would, among mother things, “discriminate against low-income people.”

At least 18 states proposed legislation to drug-test welfare recipients in 2015.

Copyright 2016 The Daily Signal