LEGISLATIVE PROCESS

Georgia House Bill 772 was introduced into the Georgia General Assembly by State
Representative Greg Morris (R-Vidalia) on January 17, 2014 (General Session 2013-2014).
House Bill 772 is an amendment to House Bill 861 that was signed into law by Governor Deal
on April 12, 2012. House Bill 861 required all applicants to submit to drug testing before
qualifying for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits.
House Bill 772 was originally written the same as House Bill 861. In addition,
Representative Morris contends that the language of House Bill 861 was patterned after a Florida
law also requiring drug testing for food stamp applicants. However, the 11
th
Circuit Court of
Appeals ruled the Florida legislation unconstitutional in 2013 because it violated constitutional
protection under search and seizure in the 4th Amendment.
House Bill 772 was signed by the Governor on April 29, 2014 and will be enacted into
law on July 1, 2014. House Bill 772 amended Act 664 and further amends Article 9 of Chapter 4
of Title 49 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to temporary assistance for needy
families. This Act is cited as the Social Responsibility and Accountability Act (www.
Legis.ga.gov). Many notable changes were made to the existing law. For example House Bill
772 originally required applicants to undergo drug testing within 48 hours of the application.
This provision has been deleted. Also, each applicant who applied for assistance had to submit to
drug testing. Now, drug tests will be conducted if there is reasonable suspicion to do so. The
bill further included reasonable suspicion to indicate and include missed appointments, arrests
records, termination from previous employment due to drug use, and previous employment that
conducted drug screenings (House Bill 772). In addition, this bill will not affect children under
18 or seniors because they are not required to submit to drug testing.

House Bill 772 was assigned to the Judiciary Committee and chaired by Wendell Willard
in the 2013-2014 regular session. The Bill was assigned to two subcommittees. Barry Fleming
chaired the first subcommittee and Mike Jacobs chaired the second subcommittee
(www.house.ga.gov).

Shelley Senterfitt an attorney representing Georgia Coalition against Domestic Violence
spoke at the hearing and testified against House Bill 772 (Miller, 2014). According to Craig,
Groups that opposed House Bill 772 included the Atlanta Community Food Bank, the Southern
Center for Human Rights, Mental Health America of Georgia, the Georgia Coalition Against
Domestic Violence, the Georgia Council on Substance Abuse and Families First of Georgia and
others (March 11, 2014). Craig stated that the organizations opposed House Bill 772 because it
was discriminatory against people who needed assistance the most, and litigation would be very
costly (Craig, 2014).

Several democratic legislators eloquently expressed their opposition to House Bill 772.
For example, Representative Henson, a White Democratic legislator stated tired behavior could
certainly mimic drug use. Representative Duke, a Black Democratic legislator contends that
people no longer go to DFCS to apply for welfare, in fact everything is done over the web using
www.compass.ga.gov so how will applicants be deemed suspicious over the internet. Last,
Representative Holcomb, a White Democratic legislator stated, he was opposed due to the cost
effectiveness of the bill and unreasonable search and seizure. Holcomb also stated that the intent
should be to find a way to make the bill constitutional. Holcomb also stated that the drug testing
will infringe upon our public service professionals like the military, fire and police employees.

The vote for House Bill 772 was 100 Yes to 64 No (www.legis.ga.gov). The Senate
Health and Human Services Committee narrowly approved House Bill 772 on Monday.
With four Republicans in favor of the bill and four Democrats opposed, Committee
Chairwoman Renee Unterman, R-Buford, broke the tie, siding with her GOP colleagues in
moving the legislation out of committee toward a vote by the full Senate (Craig, March 12,
2014).
My State Representative is Kimberly Alexander of District 66 in Douglasville,
Georgia. She voted in opposition to House Bill 772. My State Senator is Donzella James of
District 35 and she also voted in opposition to House Bill 772.