Colorado regulators won’t sanction job-seekers with out-of-state marijuana convictions, Polis orders

Gov. Jared Polis on Thursday vowed by executive order that Colorado will not hold out-of-state convictions for most marijuana-related offenses against people applying for professional licenses here.

The Boulder Democrat wrote in his order, “There is a workforce shortage in Colorado. Employers are having difficulty recruiting and retaining qualified employees, many of whom need professional licenses. The exclusion of people from the workforce because of marijuana-related activities that are lawful in Colorado, but illegal in other states, hinders our economy and our state.”

Polis’s order directs the state Department of Regulatory Affairs, which oversees professional licensing for close to 1 million Coloradans in at least 50 different sectors, to “promulgate and issue rules as necessary to ensure that no person shall be subject to disciplinary action against a professional license or disqualified from professional licensure for any civil or criminal judgment, discipline or other sanction threatened or imposed under the laws of another state regarding consumption, possession, cultivation or processing of marijuana so long as the actions are lawful and consistent with professional conduct and standards of care within the state of Colorado.”