Colorado legalized medical cannabis in 2000 and adult-use in 2012, but employers can still deny employment to or fire workers due to their off-the-clock cannabis use.

New legislation in the statehouse aims to remedy this, according to The Colorado Sun.

House Bill 1152, sponsored by Reps. Edie Hooton and Brianna Titone, would bar employers from firing employees for cannabis use, as well as require employers to let their workers consume medical cannabis on the job.

Workers whose jobs are in dangerous fields or require the use of heavy machinery would be exempted from the law, The Colorado Sun reported.

“Marijuana is legal in Colorado,” Titone told the news outlet. “And what people do in their spare time that doesn’t impact their work shouldn’t really be a problem for them. They should be able to enjoy the legal things that we have here in Colorado and not be penalized for it.”

“The whole idea is to signal to the business community and to employers that because we have legalized cannabis, we should be following the same laws and rules that apply to alcohol and prescription drugs,” Hooton added.

Similar legislation stalled in 2020, and House Minority Leader Chris Holbert has expressed opposition to H.B. 1152, according to The Colorado Sun. Holbert’s stance hinges on a provision in Amendment 64, Colorado’s voter-approved adult-use cannabis measure, that says: “Nothing in this [ballot measure] is intended to require an employer to permit or accommodate the use, consumption, possession, transfer, delay, transportation, sale or growing of marijuana in the workplace.”

“That really did clarify that employers can have a 100% drug-free policy in their workplace, and that, in my opinion, should not be infringed upon,” Holbert told The Colorado Sun.

Similarly, Amendment 20, Colorado’s voter-approved medical cannabis initiative, included a provision stating that the measure does not “require any employer to accommodate the medical use of marijuana in any workplace,” according to the news outlet.

H.B. 1152 was introduced Feb. 4 and has not yet been scheduled for its first committee hearing.