
Additionally, on the same day, a bill was filed in the state legislature to require welfare recipients to submit to drug testing - testing for which they would have to pay. This was something Scott promised to do during his campaign. The policy could affect nearly 60,000 people.
However, some feel Scott is trying to fix something that isn't broken. According to Simon, both the executive order and bill go against what many people feel is already established law, as well as standards on drug testing put forth by the Supreme Court - nearly twenty years ago.
Simon was quoted as saying in the 39online.com article: ''There's federal, U.S. Supreme Court standards on all of this. I don't think the governor got very good legal advice on this thing.''
In seemingly direct opposition to his executive order and the legislative bill, Scott has vehemently opposed a prescription drug monitoring database that others feel would help combat the state's prescription drug abuse problem. Scott cites privacy concerns as the reason for his opposition.
According to the March 27th article at miamiherald.com, ''Gov. Rick Scott's drug-testing order may face legal challenges'', Ephraim Hess, a Davie attorney, was quoted as saying: ''You can't do blanket tests like that. They're facially unconstitutional.'' In April of 2000, Hess prevailed over the City of Hollywood when it was ruled that governments cannot require prospective employees to take drug tests unless there is a ''special need,'' such as safety.
Under the Florida Drug-Free Workplaces Act, state agencies are permitted to screen applicants for drugs, but they are not required to do so.
In reference to Scott's order, in the same March 27th miamiherald.com article, Simon was quoted as saying: ''He did it off the top of his head, as if he were the CEO of a private corporation, something he dreams about in the middle of the night and wakes up thinking he can impose on government employees. That's not how government works.''
He went on to say that: ''Except when you're in a safety-sensitive position, it requires some reasonable suspicion, some individual basis, to believe that there is substance abuse. That is the standard that balances the personal privacy of employees with the right of the government to ensure that workers are capable, ready, willing, able to perform their job.''
''I'm pretty certain that there will be a constitutional evaluation of this policy before it goes into effect. We've been talking with workers. We have an e-mail address that we created, and numerous state employees are contacting us, and we're discussing this, and including discussions with some public employee unions as well.''
''It's the right policy, public policy,'' Scott was quoted as saying, in the same article.
Howard Simon has served as the Executive Director of the ACLU of Florida since 1997. Prior to his appointment, he served as Executive Director of the Michigan affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union since 1974.
According to the information posted at topics.nytimes.com on Rick Scott, over a period of ten years, he built Columbia/HCA - the biggest health care chain in the world. However, in 1997, during the nation's largest health care fraud scandal, his own board of directors ousted him. Scott is described as a conservative, who appears to be living up to his promise during his campaign ''to run the troubled state like a corporate chief executive and not a politician.''