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All you gotta do is not pass HB484, a mean-spirited bill to randomly drug test food stamp recipients. This little beauty is sponsored by 6 members of your crack legislative team. Their 'big idea' is to deny food stamps to people who take illegal drugs. Probably a great topic for a right-wing talk radio bitch session and for sure it's red meat to a certain type of authoritarian conservative. "Why should these shiftless people get something for free? Let's punish those bad drug users for their bad deeds!"
Now aside from the little problem (heck, maybe in your opinion it's not so much a problem as a feature) that the bill will starve kids to punish their parents for getting high, there's a big problem with the bill which even you guys should understand. Very simply, we can't afford it. Why not? HHS estimates all this drug testing you want to do will cost the state about $8 million a year... and it won't save us a dime, because all the money for the food stamp program comes from Washington. D'oh!
And here's the kicker. The bill downshifts more costs to cities and towns. By NH law, every town is responsible for the welfare of its residents. Like it or not, we don't want people to starve to death in the Granite State. It may make you guys feel all warm inside when some unlucky woman and her three kids are thrown off the Food Stamps program, but they can just turn around and go directly to their local town hall and get money to feed themselves, all courtesy of the local property tax payers. So the real effect of HB484 is it makes the state pay $8 million to downshift about $10 million in food costs from Washington to local communities. Double d'oh!
Do the geniuses who sponsored this bill understand this? Is it really worth it for the state to spend $18 million a year just so we can hassle some of our neighbors?
Writing effective legislation is hard word. I really have to wonder if you guys are up to the challenge. Well, actually I don't have to wonder. The evidence is pretty clear.
