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Not only was Rick Scott’s zeal for drug testing just about anyone he could laughably bad policy, it’s also been quite costly to the state. In the four months a program to drug test welfare recipients was in practice it ended up costing that state just over $118,000. Then it got struck down, and has cost the state thousands more.
The latest bill in the legal drama stemming from Scott’s drug testing obsession: $190,000.
A federal judge has ordered the state to cough up the amount for legal fees and other expenses in a case involving Scott’s decision to try and drug test state workers. A district judge struck the plan down in April as unconstitutional, as it was ruled an unreasonable “search and seizure.”
The state is now on the hook for the plaintiff’s legal fees.
The Orlando Sentinel found back in July that lawsuits related to Scott’s controversial laws have cost the state $888,000.
This latest ruling puts that over the $1 million mark.
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