A bill to limit the ability of federal agencies to use past marijuana use as a factor in making employment and security clearance decisions would have a negligible economic impact on the government, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says.
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In a new report released on Tuesday, CBO scored the Dismantling Outdated Obstacles and Barriers to Individual Employment, or DOOBIE Act that passed the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee last month.
Analysts determined that the legislation would not have any significant impact on direct spending or add to the deficit if enacted, in large part because the White House Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) have already “issued guidance to all federal agencies stating that past marijuana use should not automatically disqualify an applicant from federal employment or from receiving a security clearance.”
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“Such information may be relevant, but not determinative” in current federal employment decisions, the new analysis says. “As such, CBO expects that the provisions of the bill that would largely codify that existing guidance would not significantly affect the federal budget.”
Because the Government Accountability Office (GAO) would be required to report to Congress on the implementation of the legislation, there would be certain costs to implementation of the bill, CBO said, but analysts don’t expect those to exceed $500,000 during the 2025-2029 period.
The Senate committee passage of the bill, sponsored by Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), represented one of the latest legislative attempt to ensure that a person’s eligibility for the federal workforce is not negatively impacted just because they’re previously consumed cannabis.
The bill states that covered agencies “may not base a suitability determination with respect to an individual solely on the past use of marijuana by the individual.” OPM would also need to adopt that policy.
The measure further says that “the head of a Federal agency may not base a determination that a covered person is ineligible for a security clearance solely on the past use of marijuana by the covered person.”
They additionally could not use prior cannabis use to deny a personal identity verification credential, which enables federal workers to access various facilities and information.
Also under the proposal, the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) would be required to enact regulations that update its own cannabis policies and assist other federal agencies in implementing the employment and security clearance changes.
As CBO noted, DNI has previously affirmed that it is not the federal government’s current policy to deny people security clearances based on past marijuana use alone, stating that it is counterproductive to recruitment efforts, especially amid the growing legalization movement.
The legislation additionally stipulates that the U.S. comptroller general would have an oversight responsibility to ensure that the reform is being implemented in accordance with the law. Specifically, the comptroller general would need to assess whether OPM and DNI has reviewed the policy and issued updated guidance, as well as how the agencies are communicating the change.
It would also need to hold a briefing with Senate and House committee within 18 months about its assessment of the law’s implementation, and it would also need to issue a report by a date to be determined by the bicameral committee.
Peters’s legislation would achieve the same key objectives of a bipartisan House bill that was introduced last year. Originally, that measure would have provided employment protections and prevented security clearance denials for past and current marijuana use, but a committee amendment limited it to past consumption.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) separately scored that bill in February, determining that it would have a “negligible” fiscal impact—in large part because analysts say provisions on reviewing past denials for potential relief likely can’t be carried out under current federal record-keeping policies.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the prime sponsor of the legislation, also attempted to enact the reform via an amendment to a marijuana legalization bill, but it was narrowly defeated on the House floor in 2022.
Last year, the Senate separately approved a measure that would prevent intelligence agencies from denying security clearances to applicants solely due to their past marijuana use.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) filed a broader amendment in 2022 that would have prevented employment discrimination based on prior or present cannabis use at any federal department, not just those dealing with intelligence. But the provision was scaled back under a second-degree amendment from the panel’s chairman before being adopted by the committee. And then the reform was ultimately quashed when two GOP senators objected to attaching the broader bill to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on the floor if it included the marijuana language.
—Marijuana Moment is tracking more than 1,500 cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.—
Meanwhile, in July the House approved the 2025 NDAA that includes a section to prevent military branches from testing recruits for marijuana as a condition of enlistment has been left intact, despite opposition from the White House.
The Department of Defense (DOD) told lawmakers last year that marijuana’s active ingredient delta-9 THC is the most common substance that appears on positive drug tests for active duty military service members. And several military branches have taken steps to loosen cannabis-related restrictions, including issuing waivers for recruits who test positive their first time.
Also this year, the House Rules Committee has blocked a series of proposed amendments to various spending bills that would have prevented covered agencies from testing job applicants for marijuana use in legal states. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) has sought to enact the reform through numerous spending measures—so far without success.
Meanwhile, on the one-year anniversary of a Senate committee’s passage of a bipartisan marijuana banking bill last week, CBO also released an analysis on the economic impact of the reform, including the likely increase in federally insured deposits from cannabis businesses by billions of dollars once banks receive protections for servicing the industry.
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