SNAP Wars: Scott Walker, Tom Vilsack and Drug Testing of SNAP Beneficiaries

For more than 20 years, Federal law has expressly provided that states may test welfare recipients for use of controlled substances free from interference of federal agencies. 21 U.S.C. §862(b).  Relying upon this Congressional enactment, Wisconsin passed Act 55 during 2015.  Act 55 authorized new drug screening and testing requirements for certain SNAP beneficiaries in the Badger State.  These new requirements teed up a conflict with a long-standing U.S. Food and Nutrition Service (“FNS”) food stamp regulation that prohibits states from imposing additional eligibility requirements on SNAP beneficiaries