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Lawmaker Wants Drug Testing for Welfare Recipients

The state of Colorado is considering a bill that would require people applying for public welfare to take a drug test in order to receive their monthly benefits. Similar measures have been proposed by states across the country, even though the practice has often been challenged in the courts.

KUNC’s state capitol reporter Bente Birkeland takes a look at the proposal.

Bente Birkeland is an award-winning journalist who joined Colorado Public Radio in August 2018 after a decade of reporting on the Colorado state capitol for the Rocky Mountain Community Radio collaborative and KUNC. In 2017, Bente was named Colorado Journalist of the Year by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), and she was awarded with a National Investigative Reporting Award by SPJ a year later.