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RANDOM DRUG TESTING DEEMED UNCONSTITUTIONAL

Biane Responds to Tax Collectors Random Drug Testing Idea

SAN BERNARDINO -- The county's 4th District Supervisor is exploring options to set up a voluntary random drug testing program for exempt employees. 

Supervisor Gary Ovitt has asked county counsel to look into the idea of letting elected officials and their staff participate in voluntary drug tests, said Mark Kirk, Ovitt's chief of staff.  Both Kirk and Ovitt said they would volunteer to be tested. 

"At the end of the day having drug testing is not going to restore a whole lot of confidence in the county's leadership, but if that's something we could do to restore some of the confidence than we would have no problem doing it," Kirk said. 

First District Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt said he would also volunteer for drug testing. 

"If we implemented this for top management, I would volunteer for testing because I consider that leading by example," Mitzelfelt said.  Mitzelfelt's spokesman David Zook said he would absolutely volunteer for testing. 

Mitzelfelt pointed out that if elected officials tested positive for drugs, they could not be fired or disciplined because they were elected by the people. 

In response to a suggestion by Tax Collector Dick Larsen to implement mandatory drug testing for elected officials and top management, Chairman Paul Biane said that a supreme court ruling prohibits such a program. 

"The court ruled that agencies could not order the testing of existing employees without a reasonable suspicion of substance abuse," Biane wrote. 

He did share Larsen's concern about allegations that Assessor Bill Postmus has battled an addiction to methamphetamine. 

"I'm additionally concerned about the questions they might raise among the public about those of us in their service," Biane said of the allegations. 

Kirk believes that as long as no one is coerced into taking a drug test, that a voluntary drug-testing program could be a possibility.