ACLU of Colorado Legal Director Mark Silverstein held a press conference this morning responding to the Denver Police Department shooting of Jessica Hernandez. Watch video of the conference here via the Denver Post:

January 26, 2015
DENVER – El Paso County officials recently announced that, beginning Jan. 26, some participants in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program will be required to undergo drug screening and testing to remain in the program. Participants will automatically be required to undergo screening after 24 months in the TANF program, or if “reasonable suspicion” of substance use is detected based on a subjective set of criteria devised by the county.

American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado Statement

“The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado opposes drug testing as a requirement for public benefits. All available evidence shows that welfare applicants are no more likely to use drugs than the general public.  Yet the new El Paso County policy, which will cost taxpayers to implement, singles out limited-income people and requires them to submit to humiliating and intrusive searches of their bodily fluids because they need temporary help making ends meet.
"Further, the denial of public benefits based on marijuana use defies the will of Colorado voters who made both medical and recreational marijuana use legal as a matter of state law.”

January 23, 2015
DENVER – Members of the Joint Budget Committee of the Colorado legislature voted today for the second time this week to block funding for implementation of the Colorado Road and Safety Act.  Based on these votes, the Department of Revenue will not be allowed to access thousands of dollars in fees that have been collected through the law, which allows immigrant Coloradans to access driver’s licenses.

Statement of ACLU of Colorado Public Policy Director Denise Maes:

“The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado is deeply disappointed by the vote of the Joint Budget Committee to essentially defund SB-251, a law passed in 2013 by the full legislature that allows immigrant Coloradans to access driver’s licenses.
“This vote was not about protecting taxpayer dollars. The funds at issue are fees that were fully generated by the driver’s license program.  The members of the committee who blocked those funds chose politics over people, and in doing so, voted to make our roads and our communities less safe.
“We strongly encourage those lawmakers to reconsider and to allow the Department of Revenue to spend the funds it collected, just as the legislature intended when it passed the law.  Rather than playing politics, lawmakers should be working to expand access to this program, which has the potential to benefit thousands of men, women, and families.”