Senate panel backs bill to bar random cannabis testing for certain public-safety workers

Senate Health and Public Affairs on Friday recommended passage of Senate Bill 269, which would prohibit random urine testing for cannabis and direct state agencies to develop guidance employers can use to identify cannabis impairment.

Proponents told the committee the bill grew out of complaints from firefighters who use medical cannabis off duty for conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, sleep disruption and chronic pain and who have faced adverse employment actions after testing positive on urine screens.

Miguel Titman, president of ISF Local 244 and vice president of the Professional Fire Fighters of New Mexico, said the bill would protect workers who are prescribed medical cannabis and allow employers and counties to adopt “best practices” for identifying impairment rather than relying on urine tests that detect cannabinoids days or weeks after use. “Merely identifying that it’s in your system doesn’t define impairment,” Titman said. He described saliva swabs and drug-recognition-expert evaluations as better tools for assessing recent use.

John Lipschutz of the New Mexico Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, told senators the union stood in “strong solidarity” with first responders. Jeremy Renda, a 25-year fire-service veteran and Santa Fe County fire officer, described suicide, PTSD and substance misuse among firefighters and said medical cannabis is one tool some clinicians recommend.

Committee members asked how impairment would be defined and who would be liable after an on-duty accident. Witnesses said the legislation assigns the Department of Workforce Solutions primary responsibility for developing impairment guidelines with assistance from the Department of Health; they said employers would retain final authority to define safety-sensitive roles and policies under the bill. Titman said the county of Bernalillo is already developing a policy that uses saliva testing and phased thresholds.

Several senators flagged concerns that different employers could adopt different thresholds, raising uneven treatment across jurisdictions, and asked whether federal grants could be jeopardized. Supporters said they were not aware of any loss of federal funding in other states that have adopted similar protections.

The committee recorded a 6-3 vote to give SB269 a do-pass recommendation. Senators recorded as voting “no” during the roll call included Senator Block, Senator Boone and Senator Gallegos; senators recorded as voting “yes” included Senator Nava, Senator Hickey and Senator Lopez. The committee held a roll-call explanation and testimony from community and union witnesses before the vote.

If enacted, the bill would amend the state’s existing compassionate-cannabis framework (referred to in testimony as the Lynn and Aaron Compassionate Cannabis Act) to prevent the use of urine-based random testing for cannabis alone as the basis for adverse employment action against covered employees, and to require state guidance on acceptable impairment-testing methods. The bill as presented applies to municipal and county employers that designate positions as safety-sensitive; it preserves employer discretion to adopt more stringent standards when federal funding or other legal constraints require them to do so.

Supporters asked the Judiciary Committee and future reviewers to clarify statutory language connecting “use” and “impairment” and to preserve employers’ ability to act when there is reasonable suspicion of on-duty impairment. Opponents or skeptical senators warned that liability and insurance effects for counties and municipalities should be further examined in subsequent committee hearings.