The chair of a House committee that is scheduled to vote this week on a bipartisan measure relating to marijuana protections for federal employees proposes to drastically reduce the bill.
The House Oversight and Accountability Committee is set to hold a marking up of the Cannabis Users’ Restoration of Eligibility Act –sponsored by Reps. Jamie Raskin, Nancy Mace and Earl Blumenauer. James Comer, the Chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee (R-KY), has announced that he plans to file an amendment that will act as a substitute for the central provisions of the bill.
The legislation, as introduced, would prohibit the use of “current or previous marijuana use by a covered individual” in determining whether that person is eligible for security clearances or suitable for federal employment.
The Comer amendment would, however, remove the language regarding “current” usage, restricting employment protections to only those who have admitted to using marijuana previously, while allowing federal agencies continue to refuse to hire or issue security clearances for current cannabis users.
A committee spokesperson told Marijuana Moment that the purpose of the Chairman’s ANS was to “ensure that this legislation is consistent and only applies to previous marijuana use.”
The spokesperson stated that “This codifies an emerging federal policy on how to treat previous marijuana use in determining eligibility for a clearance for Federal employment or a security clearance and clarifies the process of hiring for many young, technically capable applicants who are currently discouraged from applying for government jobs because of conflicting and unclear policies.”
Mace’s office informed Marijuana Moment Monday that Mace “plans to back the chairman’s ANS”. Raskin’s office did not respond to a request for comments by the time of publication.
Other members of the committee may file amendments to the Bill, but they have not been posted publicly yet.
According to the current draft of the bill, all federal agencies will be required, within one-year after enactment of this legislation, to create a process for reviewing each previous decision to deny security clearances and job opportunities due to cannabis use dating back to January 1, 2008
The agencies would have to create a website where people can request a review. If they determine that the decision was made solely because of marijuana, they would be required to “reconsider” their security clearances or employment applications within 90 days.
The Merit Systems Protection Board will hear the appeal within 30 days if the person was denied clearance or employment after the agency reconsidered the decision. The board must review the case in 120 days and, if marijuana was found to be the reason for the denial, “order the Federal Agency to immediately redetermine” the person’s request for a reconsideration.
The CURE Act is an expansion of the amendment Raskin submitted as part of a cannabis legalization bill passed by the House last year. The measure that Raskin filed would only have covered security clearances, not also including employment decisions. This is what the new legislation does. Retroactivity, however, would have required that denials go back to 1971 instead of 2008. The amendment was narrowly rejected on the House floor .
The Senate passed a bill in July that prohibits intelligence agencies from refusing security clearances solely because of a previous marijuana use.
Last year, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon filed a more comprehensive amendment that would have prohibited employment discrimination on the basis of cannabis use in any federal department. This included those who deal with intelligence. The provision was weakened by a second-degree amendment proposed by the chairman of the committee before it was adopted. The reform was quashed after two GOP senators refused to attach to the National Defense Authorization Act on the floor if the bill included marijuana language.
The passage of the CURE Act by the House Oversight Committee would be a major victory for cannabis reform advocates, who have seen numerous cannabis reform measures blocked on the House floor under GOP control.
The panel, which was formed in February, prevented, among other things, two amendments that would have prohibited federal employees from testing for marijuana. amendments promoting psychedelic research were however made to allow the floor.
Rep. Robert Garcia, D-CA, also proposed an amendement to a spending measure for Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies, (MilCon/VA), earlier this year, that would have prohibited the use funds for cannabis drug tests. The amendment was not allowed to be brought to the floor of the House, despite bipartisan lawmakers cheering the passage of the underlying bill which included separate marijuana measures.
The House passed two amendments that would allow VA doctors the ability to recommend medical cannabis to veterans. Another would encourage the research of the therapeutic potential of psychedelics such as psilocybin or MDMA.
The Rules Committee blocked more than a dozen amendments on marijuana and psychedelics in the House version of NDAA. This happened in July. This includes a measure that was introduced by Garcia which would have prevented denials of security clearances to federal workers due to prior cannabis use.
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In 2021, the Director of National Intelligence issued a memo saying that federal employers should not reject security clearance candidates based on past use. They also need to use discretion with those who have cannabis investments in their portfolios.
The U.S. Secret Service has recently updated its policy on employment to be more accommodating for applicants who have previously used marijuana. Candidates of any age are now eligible to apply one year after their last consumption. There were previously stricter restrictions based on age.
ATF has also updated its cannabis rules for job candidates . The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has also revised its cannabis rules for job applicants.
In 2020, the FBI changed its hiring policy so that candidates would only be automatically disqualified if they admitted to using marijuana within a year before applying. Prior to 2020, the FBI prohibited prospective employees from having used cannabis in the last three years.
In 2014, former FBI director James Comey suggested that he would relax the employment policies of the agency in relation to marijuana as skilled workers were being overlooked due to this requirement.
He said, “I need to hire an excellent work force to compete against those cyber criminals. Some of these kids want to smoke marijuana on their way to the interview.”
In 2020, the CIA stated that it does not necessarily believe that taking illegal drugs makes a person a bad.
Marijuana Moment obtained draft documents late last year that showed the federal Office of Personnel Management was proposing to replace several job application forms in a manner that would deal with past cannabis use much more leniently under current policy.
In 2021, the Biden administration implemented a policy that allows waivers for certain workers to admit prior marijuana use. However, certain legislators have called for further reform.
According to a recent survey, 30 percent of people between 18 and 30 either refused to apply or withdrew their applications because of the strict marijuana policies that are required for security clearances.
Some attorneys believe that the rescheduling of marijuana by the Drug Enforcement Administration, as the Department of Health and Human Services recommended recently, could force federal agencies to review their drug policies for employees.
The House Oversight Committee’s vote on Wednesday will be only the first of two votes to mark up marijuana reform legislation in this month. On September 27 , the Senate Banking Committee is scheduled to vote on bipartisan cannabis banking legislation before it could be advanced to the Senate floor.
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The post GOP Committee Chair Seeks to Scale Down Bill on Removing Federal Marijuana Employment Barriers Before This Week’s VOTE first appeared on Marijuana Moment.
