As the Pennsylvania General Assembly resumes efforts to legalize marijuana in the state, local lawmakers in Pittsburgh unanimously approved a measure banning many of the city's employers from discriminating against registered medical marijuana patients.
The Pittsburgh City Council passed the bill on Tuesday, prohibiting employers from subjecting workers who are medical marijuana patients to THC testing as a condition of employment, broadly incorporating patients into the city's existing labor non-discrimination rules, with some notable exceptions.
The ordinance text states that employers in the city will no longer be able to discriminate in hiring or employment against an employee or prospective employee because of their legal status as a medical marijuana patient, including by requiring pre-employment or during-employment marijuana testing as a condition of employment.
But there are exceptions to the rule: For example, state and federal transportation employees and those who are required to carry a firearm as part of their job can still be tested and face penalties if they test positive.
Controversially, the bill provides an exemption from the reforms for workers who have collective bargaining agreements with their employers, a change opposed by the ordinance's sponsor, City Councilwoman Barb Warwick (D).
There is nothing in the law that prevents employers from prohibiting employees from using medical marijuana during work hours, and the law makes clear that medical marijuana patients may still be subject to THC testing if there is a reasonable suspicion of impairment on-site.
Additionally, if employees were to operate a vehicle or perform duties in “heights or confined spaces,” they could not have more than 10 nanograms of active THC in their blood.
The bill also provides that employers can penalize employees if “the employee's conduct falls below the standard of care ordinarily accepted in the job while under the influence of medical marijuana in the workplace or while working under the influence of medical marijuana.”
Workers will be able to file complaints about any alleged violations of anti-discrimination provisions with the city's Human Rights Commission.
“Everyone should have access to gainful employment regardless of the type of medical treatment they have,” commission executive director Rachel Shepherd said in a statement to Tribunal. “Taking prescribed medication for a qualifying disability should not diminish someone's confidence that they can be a reliable and productive employee, nor should it affect their ability to be considered in the hiring process.”
The local vote came about a week after a bipartisan group of Pennsylvania lawmakers formally introduced a bill to legalize recreational marijuana in the state, and the push for reform has grown in the state Legislature as neighboring states such as Ohio move forward with opening legal cannabis markets.
In July, Pennsylvania's governor said his administration and lawmakers would “go back and keep fighting” for marijuana legalization and other policy priorities that were left out of the budget bill he signed that month.
When the Pennsylvania General Assembly approved Gov. Josh Shapiro's (D) proposed budget, lawmakers mistakenly excluded medical marijuana dispensaries from a provision that provides tax breaks for the cannabis industry. It is not clear whether that exclusion can be fixed without further legislative action.
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At a July press conference, the chair of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus appeared to temper expectations about the timeline for passing legalization, noting that the remaining session leading up to the November elections would be too politically tense to get the work done this year.
Other lawmakers stressed the urgency of legalizing marijuana as soon as possible given local trends, and suggested they were close to aligning the House and Senate proposals.
Meanwhile, a report commissioned by activists projects that adult marijuana sales in Pennsylvania could reach up to $2.8 billion in the first year after legalization, generating as much as $720 million in tax revenue and creating more than 45,000 jobs.
Sens. Sharif Street (D) and Dan Laughlin (R) also attended the X-Space event in June and said they had the votes to pass marijuana legalization legislation this year, but stressed that the governor would need to work bipartisanally to get the bill through and that it would be beneficial to implement the federal government's proposed cannabis rescheduling rules sooner rather than later.
Street was also among a group of advocates and lawmakers who attended a cannabis rally at the Pennsylvania State Capitol in June, which emphasized the need to incorporate social equity provisions into any legalization move forward.
Meanwhile, Governor Laughlin also said at an event in May that the state is “close” to legalizing marijuana, but the job won't be done until House and Senate leaders have had a chance to talk to the governor and “work it out.”
Robert Green, the district attorney for Warren County, Pennsylvania, and a registered medical marijuana patient in the state, filed a lawsuit in federal court in January seeking to overturn a ban that bars medical marijuana patients from purchasing and possessing firearms.
Two Pennsylvania House committees held a joint hearing in April to discuss marijuana legalization, with several lawmakers asking about the possibility of allowing the state's top liquor regulator to operate cannabis stores.
Also in April, members of the House Health Committee held discussions centered on considering social justice and equity in the reforms.
At the last meeting in March, members focused on Prohibition's impact on criminal justice and the potential benefits of reform.
At another hearing in February, several stakeholders testified, including cannabis cultivation, sales and testing operations and clinical registrants, and commissioners considered the industry's perspective.
At the subcommittee's last cannabis meeting in December, members heard testimony and asked questions about various elements of cannabis oversight, including promoting social equity and business opportunity, lab testing and public versus private operation of the state-legal cannabis industry.
At the commission's first meeting late last year, Frankel said state-run stores were “certainly an option” being considered in Pennsylvania, similar to one New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu recommended for the state last year, though the state commission later rejected that plan.
Governor Shapiro signed a bill last year allowing all licensed medical marijuana growers and processors in the state to sell cannabis products directly to patients.
Separately, Pennsylvania's former governor signed into law in July 2022 a bill that included provisions to protect banks and insurance companies in the state that do business with licensed medical marijuana businesses.
Alaska bill establishing psychedelic-assisted treatment task force passes without governor's signature
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