Federal lawmakers want to protect climate workforce from marijuana employment testing

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A new bill looks to help those working to combat climate change

It was recently announced that a large group of Democrats in Congress had joined together to introduce a new bill to promote workplace investment to combat climate change, as well as to boost the workforce across the US to protect people in states where marijuana is already legally permitted. The idea is that these labor groups can avoid being penalized due to federal drug testing policies that are still in place even if the state where they are located has already given the plant the go-ahead.

Representative Pramila Jayapal is currently leading the Climate Resilience Workforce Act. This far-reaching bill aims to fund existing workforce development programs, provide grants to support climate resilience jobs, and create a White House Office of Climate Resilience to facilitate climate protection work.

Still, there are some known roadblocks that must be overcome, such as removing barriers to workforce entry, which could be done by eliminating federal drug testing restrictions. Under the bill, all those employees in states where marijuana has been legalized would be prohibited from being denied the opportunity for available job training. They also could not be denied work in climate resiliency “on the basis of a federally mandated drug test that is more stringent than any drug test that is in effect in the locality or State, or used by such worker’s union,” the text of the bill reads.

While one state allows cannabis-related testing despite having legalization on the books, it appears that those workers or job training applications could still be subject to the stricter federal guidelines. However, states like New York, where rules prohibiting such cannabis testing have been enacted for most employees, would be fully protected.