BILL NUMBER: AB 2279	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 2, 2008

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Leno
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Berg, Hancock, and Saldana)

                        FEBRUARY 21, 2008

   An act to amend Section 11362.785 of, and to add Section 11362.787
to, the Health and Safety Code, relating to medical marijuana.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2279, as amended, Leno. Medical marijuana: qualified patients
and primary caregivers: employment discrimination.
   Existing law, the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, provides that a
patient or a patient's primary caregiver who possesses or cultivates
marijuana for personal medical purposes of the patient upon the
written or oral recommendation or approval of a physician is not
subject to conviction for offenses relating to possession and
cultivation of marijuana.
   Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to
establish and maintain a voluntary program for the issuance of
identification cards to patients qualified to use marijuana for their
personal medical purposes, and to their primary caregivers, if any.
Existing law states, however, that these provisions do not require
any accommodation of any medical use of marijuana on the property or
premises of any place of employment or during the hours of
employment.
   This bill, notwithstanding existing law, would declare it unlawful
for an employer to discriminate against a person in hiring,
termination, or any term or condition of employment or otherwise
penalize a person, if the discrimination is based  solely
 upon the person's status as a qualified patient or primary
caregiver, except as specified. The bill would authorize a person who
has suffered discrimination in violation of the bill to institute
and prosecute a civil action for damages, injunctive relief, and any
other appropriate equitable relief, as specified.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 11362.785 of the Health and Safety Code is
amended to read:
   11362.785.  (a) Nothing in this article shall require any
accommodation of any medical use of marijuana on the property or
premises of any place of employment or during the hours of
employment, except as provided in Section 11362.787, or on the
property or premises of any jail, correctional facility, or other
type of penal institution in which prisoners reside or persons under
arrest are detained.
   (b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), a person shall not be
prohibited or prevented from obtaining and submitting the written
information and documentation necessary to apply for an
identification card on the basis that the person is incarcerated in a
jail, correctional facility, or other penal institution in which
prisoners reside or persons under arrest are detained.
   (c) Nothing in this article shall prohibit a jail, correctional
facility, or other penal institution in which prisoners reside or
persons under arrest are detained, from permitting a prisoner or a
person under arrest who has an identification card, to use marijuana
for medical purposes under circumstances that will not endanger the
health or safety of other prisoners or the security of the facility.
   (d) Nothing in this article shall require a governmental, private,
or any other health insurance provider or health care service plan
to be liable for any claim for reimbursement for the medical use of
marijuana.
  SEC. 2.  Section 11362.787 is added to the Health and Safety Code,
to read:
   11362.787.  (a) Notwithstanding subdivision (a) of Section
11362.785, and except as provided in subdivision (c), it is unlawful
for an employer to discriminate against a person in hiring,
termination, or any term or condition of employment or otherwise
penalize a person, if the discrimination is based  solely
 upon either of the following:
   (1) The person's status as a qualified patient or a designated
primary caregiver.
   (2) The person's positive drug test for marijuana, provided the
person is a qualified patient and the medical use of marijuana, as
defined in Section 11362.7, does not occur on the property or
premises of the place of employment or during the hours of
employment, as required by Section 11362.785.
   (b) A person who has suffered discrimination in violation of
subdivision (a) may institute and prosecute in his or her own name
and on his or her own behalf a civil action for damages, injunctive
relief, and any other appropriate equitable relief to protect the
peaceable exercise of the right or rights secured.
   (c) (1) Paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) shall not apply when an
employer employs a person in a safety-sensitive position.
   (2)  For purposes of this section, a safety-sensitive position
 is   means a position in law  
enforcement, as defined in subdivision (d) of Section 13951 of the
Government Code, or  a position in which medical
cannabis-affected performance could clearly endanger the health and
safety of others. A safety-sensitive position shall have all of the
following general characteristics:
   (A) Its duties involve a greater than normal level of trust,
responsibility for, or impact on the health and safety of others.
   (B) Errors in judgment, inattentiveness, or diminished
coordination, dexterity, or composure while performing its duties
could clearly result in mistakes that would endanger the health and
safety of others.
   (C) An employee in a position of this nature works independently,
or performs tasks of a nature that it cannot safely be assumed that
mistakes like those described in subparagraph (B) could be prevented
by a supervisor or another employee.