A proposal to authorize random drug tests for state employees has come back to life, after a last-minute measure to rescue the dying bill before the casket closed on Wednesday.

A House spokesperson confirmed that Rep. Dorothy Hukill, R-Port Orange, has made a motion to reconsider the bill. That procedure is a lifeline for measures that have failed to pass their committees. The motion is curious, because Rep. Hukill originally voted against the drug-testing bill, joining other Republicans in a bi-partisan defeat of the bill in the House Budget Committee.

Sponsored by Rep. Jimmie Smith, R-Lecanto, the bill (HB 1205), had support of Gov. Rick Scott but faced some fundamental questions over constitutionality.

Hukill's flip on the measure raises a question around the halls of the Capitol. Who called the audible?

Here's our original blog on the bill's failure this morning:

Bill to allow random drug tests of state workers dies in Budget committee

A bill that would have allowed random drug tests for state workers died in the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday.

Sponsored by Rep. Jimmie Smith, R-Lecanto, the bill (HB 1205) faced bi-partisan opposition on grounds that it violated the Constitution and would invite more lawsuits for a state already swimming in litigation.

“If I think if something is blatantly unconstitutional, I have a duty to vote against it,” said Rep. Ron Saunders, D-Key West.

Republican Reps. Marti Coley, R-Marianna, Ed Hooper, R-Clearwater and Dorothy Hukill, R-Port Orange, were among Republicans who joined Democrats to vote down the measure.

The bill was a priority of Gov. Rick Scott and is the latest Republican-leadership initiative to fail this year. On Wednesday, several Republican Senators joined Democrats to vote down a massive prison privatization plan.

Critics of the bill called it Constitutionally weak, because the Supreme Court has already ruled that random, suspicionless drug test by the government constitute a violation of the fourth amendment, which covers unreasonable search and seizure.

“Unless it’s changed, I won’t be able to vote for it” on the House floor, said Rep. Bill Proctor, R-St. Augustine, who voted for the bill in committee. “I think it’s an invasion of privacy.”

The bill's failure deals a blow to the unprecedented Republican-led crackdown against drugs and those who use them in Florida.

It comes after last year’s measure to require those receiving unemployment benefits to take drug tests in order to qualify. That measure led to a lawsuit still tied up in court.

The same committee did advance a measure that would disqualify those convicted of drug-related felonies from receiving federal temporary cash assistance, unless they complete a rehab program. That measure also faced criticism from Democrats.

“This reminds me of a further attack on the unemployed, on the low-income,” said Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, who voted against the measure. “I favor rehabilitation…. But we have systems in place.”

--@ToluseO