On Wednesday, a key House committee will vote on a bipartisan measure that would prohibit the denial or federal employment based on marijuana use.
The House Oversight and Accountability Committee will be taking up the Cannabis Users’ Restoration of Eligibility Act by Reps. Jamie Raskin, Nancy Mace and Earl Blumenauer. is expected to first adopt an amendment by Chairman James Comer which would reduce certain provisions.
The CURE Act, as introduced, would prohibit federal employment and security clearance denials based on a person’s past or present cannabis use. The chairman’s substitute amendment (ANS) would, however, limit protections to only prior marijuana use, meaning federal workers and holders security clearances can continue to be penalized if they are active users.
The amendment would also remove certain language relating to the agencies’ responsibility of reviewing whether previous security clearances or employment denials based solely on marijuana use.
View the committee markup for the CURE Act video below:
The bill, as it was introduced, would require agencies to, within one-year of its enactment 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 agency must also maintain a website where people can request a review. If they determine that the denial was due to marijuana alone, they will have to “reconsider” their security clearance or job application within 90 days.
Comer’s Amendment, however, only requires a review of previous cases. It does not mandate re-examination of security clearances or employment decisions. The amendment also removes a section which calls for an appeals procedure.
The original law stipulated that a person denied clearance or employment after the agency had reconsidered the decision would have 30 calendar days to appeal the decision to the Merit Systems Protection Board. 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 reconsider the individual’s application for reconsideration.”
The ANS does not contain any of this language, which raises questions as to what agencies should do if they find that a denial is based on an old policy.
A staffer from the GOP sponsor Mace told Marijuana Moment Tuesday that the congresswoman would support the chairman’s amendement.
Although advocates preferred the original language which provided protections to federal workers who used cannabis after accepting their job, the passage of the ANS still represents a major accomplishment in marijuana policy reform. Bipartisan lawmakers found common ground, recognizing the fact that many Americans, especially young workers, had used cannabis at one point or another, and that this does not inherently make them less qualified for employment with the federal government.
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 defeated in the House.
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 panel before it was adopted. The reform was subsequently 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 psychedelics 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 legislation 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 denial 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 that admit to previous 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 recently recommended by the Department of Health and Human Services 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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Martin Alonso is the photographer of this photo.
The post Watch live: Congressional Committee votes on bill to remove marijuana as a barrier to federal employment or security clearances first appeared on Marijuana moment.
