State Sen. Virgil Peck, shown in February, said employers were wary of hiring workers who couldn’t pass a drug test, due to safety concerns. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector))
TOPEKA — Kansas lawmakers said marijuana legalization, political stances and state funding were potential roadblocks in addressing the state’s severe workforce shortage.
Sen. Virgil Peck, R-Havana, said the Special Committee on Workforce Development needed to talk about marijuana legalization before lawmakers discussed it during the upcoming legislative session.
Lawmakers passed a motion to make a recommendation that the legislature “proceed with caution” with marijuana legislation during the Monday committee hearing, by a 4-3 vote.
Peck brought up the issue, saying the idea came to him earlier in that day while taking a shower.
“I didn’t think of it until taking a shower this morning, about 7:30. It came to me that that plays into workforce development,” he said.
Peck said marijuana was a significant problem in his part of the state, with employers not willing to hire employees who couldn’t pass a drug test. He said that marijuana was a safety liability, and could impede business where workers had to use heavy machinery and could be injured.
“Employers tell me constantly, we’ve got jobs going wanting, we can’t get the workers because they can’t…
