A newly introduced bipartisan House bill would prohibit federal agencies from treating past marijuana use as grounds to deny someone a federal job or security clearance.
Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) introduced H.R. 10504 on September 17, with Representative Zach Nunn (R-IA) joining as the measure’s Republican cosponsor. The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
The measure, known as the Cannabis Users’ Restoration of Eligibility (CURE) Act, would amend federal law governing security-clearance and employment suitability determinations to limit adverse decisions based on prior marijuana use.
The legislation revives an effort Raskin led during the previous Congress. An earlier version of the proposal advanced through a House committee in 2023.
That measure was amended and approved by the House Oversight Committee in September 2023 by a vote of 30 to 14. The committee-approved language specified that past marijuana use could not be considered when determining whether someone was eligible for a security clearance or suitable for federal employment.
The 2023 committee version also required federal agencies, within one year of enactment, to establish a process for reviewing security-clearance or federal-employment denials issued on or after January 1, 2008. Agencies would have been required to make the review process available on their public websites and respond to requests from affected individuals.
The earlier legislation initially extended protections to both current and past marijuana use, but the version that ultimately cleared committee was narrowed to past use.
Raskin said following the 2023 committee vote that the legislation was intended to ensure qualified applicants were not excluded from federal service simply because they had previously used marijuana. Despite clearing committee with bipartisan support, the measure did not become law before the end of the 118th Congress.
H.R. 10504 now starts the legislative process again in the current Congress. As of Friday morning, the measure remained before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and had not received a hearing or vote.
