Legislation designed to protect public employees who legally use medical marijuana has been passed by Virginia’s full legislature.
Senate Bill 391, a companion measure to House Bill 149, was given approval yesterday by the House of Representatives in an overwhelming 80 to 18 vote. The measure has already been passed through the full Senate 30 to 10.
The legislation, which now heads to Governor Glenn Youngkin, extends a law protecting medical marijuana users from workplace discrimination to include public employees.
Under current law “No employer shall discharge, discipline, or discriminate against an employee for such employee’s lawful use of cannabis oil pursuant to a valid written certification issued by a practitioner for the treatment or to eliminate the symptoms of the employee’s diagnosed condition or disease”.
Senate Bill 391 “Amends the provision that prohibits an employer from discriminating against an employee for such employee’s lawful use of cannabis oil pursuant to a valid written certification issued by a practitioner for the treatment or to eliminate the symptoms of the employee’s diagnosed condition or disease, with certain exceptions, by specifying that such use must conform to the laws of the Commonwealth. Such protections extend to the employees of the Commonwealth and other public bodies, except for law enforcement officers.”
This would extend the provision to include public employees such as teachers and government officials.
Governor Youngkin now has the option of signing the measure into law, allowing it to become law without a signature or veto it. If he chooses the latter, the legislature could override a veto with a 2/3rds majority.
