SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO AM) - Supporters of a bill that requires random drug testing for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families recipients will try again to get it through the South Dakota Legislature.
Bill co-sponsor Liz May of Kyle recalls the case of two young girls discovered severely malnourished last November on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
May says those who opposed the measure last session didn't want any children to go hungry. She believes it's imperative that the legislature reconsider the controversial measure again this session
May says a pediatrician compared the girls to prisoners of World War Two concentration camps.
She says the state has to do something to curb the abuse. She says the argument that kids will go hungry doesn't stand because too many kids are already going hungry.
May supports random drug testing for assistance recipients and says the source of money for drugs and alcohol is obvious.
She says some sell their benefits for fifty cents on the dollar, "that's how they support their alcohol and drug habits." Oglala Lakota County, which it entirely in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, is the second poorest county in the nation and its drug and alcohol addiction is rampant.
The bill would require Social Services to randomly test two percent of the applicants for the cash benefits.