think-progress:

As the battle to win labor rights for college athletes continues at the federal level, a state lawmaker in Michigan last week introduced legislation that would keep athletes at the state’s top universities from organizing to join unions.

The state House of Representatives quickly approved the legislation during a lame-duck session Tuesday in a party-line vote, with Republicans voting in favor and Democrats voting against it.

Now that it has passed the state House, the state Senate will consider the bill before it adjourns for the year on Dec. 18, according to the Detroit News. The state Senate is overwhelmingly controlled by Republicans, and Michigan has been at the center of efforts to curb unions in recent years. Gov. Rick Snyder ® signed a so-called right-to-work bill into law in 2012.

“I don’t have my finger on the pulse of the legislature,” said Robert McCormick, a Michigan State University law professor who has co-authored a 2006 academic paper about why college athletes should be recognized as employees under federal labor law. “But it wouldn’t surprise me [if it passed].”

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A plan to issue drug tests to welfare recipients suspected of substance abuse is nearing final approval in the Michigan Legislature.

My state of Michigan is considering instituting drug testing for welfare recipients. A local news channel posted on Facebook looking for feedback from viewers on this issue, so after reading a few of the other comments, I wrote one myself. I thought I’d share it with you.

‘Okay, first off, very, very few people on welfare (food stamps, rent assistance, Medicaid, cash assistance) are unemployed, and even fewer are banking on welfare as a 'career’. People do not get assistance because they are lazy or greedy. They get it because they need it. All 'welfare’ programs have income requirements which must be met to prove that need. This means that even if someone is an addict and on welfare, that person still doesn’t make enough money to eat or pay rent even without buying drugs. Is that person ever going to be able to escape the life of drugs and crime without some assistance? Can we really say as a state that drug addicts aren’t worthy of help? That they shouldn’t be given money which can only be spent on food, because we don’t care if addicts go hungry? Should I point out that the greatest number of people who are at risk of failing these tests are inner city residents whose very living conditions make it extremely difficult to avoid drug use and to get and keep one job, not to mention the two or three jobs they would truly need to survive on minimum wage without assistance? When you say “I have to take a drug test for work, so they should have to” or “Everyone on welfare is just lazy.” or “They all just want to lives off of my tax money”, what you are really saying is “My privilege allows me to dehumanize the poor and trivialize their struggle.” The poor deserve to eat. The poor deserve to have shelter, and heat, and electricity, and clothing. The poor deserve to feel that their state and their communities are lifting them up and helping them become better people not grinding them further into the dirt. All this drug testing does is continue the stereotype of the lazy drug-addicted welfare recipient who can’t be arsed to try to find a job, because they’re getting all this free money. Let me tell you something, Michigan. That person doesn’t exist.’