Cannabis-banking bill approved by House; future in Senate uncertainPosted by On

Marijuana-related businesses would have one industry obstacle — access to the U.S. banking system — made less burdensome under a bill that passed the House on Monday evening.

The House, on an 321-101 vote, approved a bill sponsored by Rep. Ed Perlmutter, a Colorado Democrat, that would prohibit banking-system regulators from penalizing banks or credit unions that do business with a “cannabis-related legitimate business,” their servicer providers or state or local governments with jurisdiction over the businesses.

“After years of bringing up this issue, I’m thrilled to see overwhelming support for this bipartisan, commonsense legislation in the U.S. House once again. I feel optimistic about the path forward for the SAFE Banking Act and, more broadly, reforms to our federal cannabis laws,” Perlmutter said in a statement.

The bill would exempt cannabis business transactions from being considered proceeds from illegal activity and subject to anti-money-laundering laws. It would also prohibit banking regulators from asking banks to terminate a customer account unless there was a valid reason aside from reputation risk.

The bill had passed the House before, in 2019, only to die in the Senate. The 2019 vote was 321-103.

How the bill will fare in the Senate this time, while it is under Democratic control, is unclear and one industry analyst in January warned against investors becoming overly optimistic about the bill’s chances.

In…

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Marijuana-related businesses would have one industry obstacle — access to the U.S. banking system — made less burdensome under a bill that passed the House on Monday evening.

The House, on an 321-101 vote, approved a bill sponsored by Rep. Ed Perlmutter, a Colorado Democrat, that would prohibit banking-system regulators from penalizing banks or credit unions that do business with a “cannabis-related legitimate business,” their servicer providers or state or local governments with jurisdiction over the businesses.

“After years of bringing up this issue, I’m thrilled to see overwhelming support for this bipartisan, commonsense legislation in the U.S. House once again. I feel optimistic about the path forward for the SAFE Banking Act and, more broadly, reforms to our federal cannabis laws,” Perlmutter said in a statement.

The bill would exempt cannabis business transactions from being considered proceeds from illegal activity and subject to anti-money-laundering laws. It would also prohibit banking regulators from asking banks to terminate a customer account unless there was a valid reason aside from reputation risk.

The bill had passed the House before, in 2019, only to die in the Senate. The 2019 vote was 321-103.

How the bill will fare in the Senate this time, while it is under Democratic control, is unclear and one industry analyst in January warned against investors becoming overly optimistic about the bill’s chances.

In…



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