With the passage this spring of House Bill 772, the Georgia Legislature and Gov. Nathan Deal approved the nation’s hardest-hitting law that calls for drug tests on recipients of poverty aid.
But a spokesman for Deal, Brian Robinson, on Tuesday told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the state will hold off on implementing HB 772 until a federal appeals court rules on a related Florida case, so as not to waste money on a legal fight.
It is unclear how much a ruling in Florida would affect Georgia’s effort because the Georgia law, once very similar to Florida’s, is now different.
Some critics said the delay is legally senseless and raised again the possibility that the law is just political grandstanding on the backs of the poor. Others disagreed. State officials said they are just defending taxpayers.
