I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1069 

To amend title IV of the Social Security Act to require States to implement 

a drug screening and testing program for applicants for and recipients 

of assistance under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families 

(TANF) program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 12, 2013 

Mr. BOUSTANY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To amend title IV of the Social Security Act to require 

States to implement a drug screening and testing program for applicants for and recipients of assistance 

under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families 

(TANF) program, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘TANF Substance 

5 Abuse Prevention Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DRUG SCREENING AND TESTING PROGRAM FOR AP2 PLICANTS FOR AND RECIPIENTS OF ASSIST3 ANCE UNDER STATE TANF PROGRAMS. 

4 (a) STATE PLAN REQUIREMENT OF DRUG TESTING

5 PROGRAM.—Section 402(a) of the Social Security Act (42 

6 U.S.C. 602(a)) is amended by adding at the end the fol7 lowing: 

8 ‘‘(8) CERTIFICATION THAT THE STATE WILL

9 OPERATE AN ILLEGAL DRUG USE SCREENING AND

10 TESTING PROGRAM.— 

11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A certification by the 

12 chief executive officer of the State that the 

13 State will operate a program in accordance with 

14 section 408(a)(13) to screen all applicants for 

15 assistance under the State program funded 

16 under this part, and all individuals described in 

17 subparagraph (C) of such section, for the use of 

18 illegal drugs (as defined in subparagraph (E) of 

19 such section), and to test all such applicants 

20 and individuals who are found as a result of the 

21 screening to have a high risk of substance 

22 abuse. 

23 ‘‘(B) AUTHORITY FOR CONTINUED TEST24 ING.—The program described in subparagraph 

25 (A) may include a plan to continue screening or 

26 testing individuals receiving assistance under 


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1 the State program funded under this part for il2 legal drug use at random or set intervals after 

3 the initial screening or testing of the individ4 uals, at the discretion of the State agency ad5 ministering such State program.’’. 

6 (b) REQUIREMENT THAT APPLICANTS AND INDIVID7 UALS RECEIVING ASSISTANCE BE SCREENED, AND IF

8 NECESSARY TESTED, FOR ILLEGAL DRUG USE.—Section 

9 408(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 608(a)) is 

10 amended by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(13) REQUIREMENT FOR DRUG SCREENING

12 AND TESTING; DENIAL OF ASSISTANCE FOR INDIVID13 UALS NOT SCREENED, OR IF NECESSARY, TESTED

14 FOR THE USE OF ILLEGAL DRUGS.— 

15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A State to which a 

16 grant is made under section 403 shall not use 

17 any part of the grant to provide assistance to 

18 any individual who has not been screened for 

19 the use of illegal drugs, or who, having been 

20 found as a result of the screening to have a 

21 high risk of substance abuse, has not been test22 ed for the use of illegal drugs, under the pro23 gram required under section 402(a)(8). 

24 ‘‘(B) SCREENING METHOD.—The method 

25 by which substance abuse screening is to be 


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1 conducted under this paragraph is by means of 

2 a survey that has been shown to be effective in 

3 identifying likely substance abuse and that is 

4 administered by an interview or a self-adminis5 tered test designed to determine whether an in6 dividual should be further evaluated for sub7 stance abuse. 

8 ‘‘(C) TRANSITION RULE.—In the case of 

9 an individual who is receiving assistance under 

10 the State program funded under this part on 

11 the effective date of this paragraph, or whose 

12 application for assistance is approved before 

13 such date if the assistance has not begun as of 

14 such date, a State may not provide assistance 

15 to the individual unless the individual is 

16 screened for illegal drug use in accordance with 

17 this paragraph after the 3rd month that begins 

18 after such date and, if found as a result of the 

19 screening to have a high risk of substance 

20 abuse, is tested for the use of illegal drugs, 

21 under the program so described. 

22 ‘‘(D) LIMITATION ON WAIVER AUTHOR23 ITY.—The Secretary may not waive the provi24 sions of this paragraph under section 1115. 


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1 ‘‘(E) ILLEGAL DRUG DEFINED.—In this 

2 paragraph, the term ‘illegal drug’ means a con3 trolled substance as defined in section 102 of 

4 the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802). 

5 ‘‘(F) PRESERVATION OF ASSISTANCE FOR

6 OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS.—If an individual is 

7 denied assistance under this paragraph, the 

8 State shall continue to provide the assistance 

9 that would otherwise be provided in respect of 

10 the other members of the family of the indi11 vidual, through protective or vendor payments 

12 to a 3rd party for the benefit of the other fam13 ily members.’’. 

14 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para16 graph (2), the amendments made by this section 

17 shall take effect on the 1st day of the 1st calendar 

18 quarter that begins on or after the date that is 1 

19 year after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

20 (2) DELAY PERMITTED IF STATE LEGISLATION

21 REQUIRED.—In the case of a State plan under sec22 tion 402(a) of the Social Security Act which the Sec23 retary of Health and Human Services determines re24 quires State legislation (other than legislation appro25 priating funds) in order for the plan to meet the adVerDate Mar 14 2013 16:06 Mar 14, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1069.IH H1069

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1 ditional requirements imposed by the amendments 

2 made by this Act, the State plan shall not be re3 garded as failing to comply with the requirements of 

4 such section 402(a) solely on the basis of the failure 

5 of the plan to meet such additional requirements be6 fore the 1st day of the 1st calendar quarter begin7 ning after the close of the 1st regular session of the 

8 State legislature that begins after the date of enact9 ment of this Act. For purposes of the previous sen10 tence, in the case of a State that has a 2-year legis11 lative session, each year of such session shall be 

12 deemed to be a separate regular session of the State 

13 legislature. 

Æ 


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