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To request that the Mayor amend the Administrative Regulations of the City, to the extent permitted by law, to exclude from substance detection testing the testing of City employees and applicants for employment with the City, except for public safety personnel and applicants for public safety positions, for marijuana use.
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WHEREAS, Senate Bill 2, adopted by both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly during its 2020 session, purports to decriminalize simple marijuana possession and imposes a civil penalty of no more than $25.00 for any such possession; and
WHEREAS, Administrative Regulation # 4053 of the City's Administrative Regulations requires City employees and applicants for employment with the City to, in part, "submit to substance detection testing (alcohol and drug tests) when requested to do so by management" and further provides that any employee in violation of the City's substance abuse policy shall be subject to discipline up to and including termination; and
WHEREAS, the Council believes that it is in the best interests of the citizens and employees of the City of Richmond that the Mayor amend the Administrative Regulations of the City, to the extent permitted by law, to exclude from substance detection testing the testing of City employees and applicants for employment with the City, except for public safety personnel and applicants for public safety positions, for marijuana use, in light of the Virginia General Assembly's recent adoption of Senate Bill 2, which purports to decriminalize simple marijuana possession, during the Virginia General Assembly's 2020 session;
NOW, THEREFORE,
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND:
That the Council hereby requests that the Mayor amend the Administrative Regulations of the City, to the extent permitted by law, to exclude from substance detection testing the testing of City employees and applicants for employment with the City, except for public safety personnel and a...
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