Major associations representing U.S. credit unions are calling on Congress to pass marijuana banking reform through must-pass defense legislation.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the latest in a series of requests from lawmakers, stakeholders and advocates to advance legislation to protect financial institutions that work with state-legal cannabis businesses from being penalized by federal regulators.<\/p>\n
Specifically, they want to see the Senate follow the House\u2019s lead in attaching language from the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act<\/a> to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).<\/p>\n \u201cWe take no position on legalizing or decriminalizing medicinal or recreational cannabis at either the state or federal level,\u201d the associations said in a letter to key committee leadership. \u201cHowever, credit unions operating in states where it is legal have members and member businesses involved in the cannabis market who need access to traditional depository and lending services, the absence of which creates a significant public safety issue.\u201d<\/p>\n The Credit Union National Association, Defense Credit Union Council and National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions signed<\/a> the letter, which also touches on non-cannabis issues.<\/p>\n This week in #CUAdvocacy<\/a>: The Senate will resume consideration of the #NDAA<\/a>, and CUNA will be engaged in several hearings. Learn more: https:\/\/t.co\/1vJfaEEymB<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 CUNA (@CUNA) November 29, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The groups, which wrote that they \u201cstrongly support\u201d attaching SAFE Banking to NDAA, also stressed that \u201cfinancial institutions that choose not to bank the cannabis industry still risk unknowingly serving those businesses in states where cannabis is legal.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIndirect connections are often difficult to identify and avoid because like any other industry, those offering cannabis-related services work with vendors and suppliers,\u201d the letter continues. \u201cUnder the existing status quo, a credit union that does business with any one of these indirectly affiliated entities could unknowingly risk violating federal law.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cInclusion of the SAFE Banking Act puts in place necessary protections to bring revenue from state-sanctioned cannabis businesses into the financial services mainstream and, as a result, keeping communities safe,\u201d it concludes.<\/p>\n While the Senate has yet to independently add the banking reform language to its version of NDAA, supporters want to see the provisions\u00a0adopted by negotiators in conference for the final legislation sent to President Joe Biden\u2019s desk.<\/p>\n Bipartisan members of the Senate Armed Services Committee recently sent their own letter urging leaders<\/a> to include the SAFE Banking Act in the final NDAA. Shortly thereafter, U.S. senators representing Colorado made the same request in a separate letter<\/a>.<\/p>\n The SAFE Banking Act has been approved in some form in the House five times now, but it\u2019s so far languished in the Senate. Stakeholders have held out hope that the chamber would advance the legislation with a Democratic majority, but some key players like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) have insisted on passing comprehensive legalization\u2014like a reform bill he\u2019s finalizing\u2014first.<\/p>\n That said, Schumer has signaled that he\u2019s\u00a0open to enacting banking reform through NDAA<\/a>\u00a0if it contained social equity provisions.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, a bipartisan coalition of two dozen governors implored congressional leaders to\u00a0finally enact marijuana banking reform<\/a>\u00a0through the large-scale defense legislation.<\/p>\n A group of small marijuana business owners also recently made the case that the incremental banking policy change\u00a0could actually help support social equity efforts<\/a>.<\/p>\n Rodney Hood, a board member of the National Credit Union Administration,\u00a0wrote in a Marijuana Moment op-ed last month<\/a>\u00a0that legalization is an inevitability\u2014and it makes the most sense for government agencies to get ahead of the policy change to resolve banking complications now.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, an official with the Internal Revenue Service said last month that\u00a0the agency would like to \u201cget paid,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0and it\u2019d help if the marijuana industry had access to banks like companies in other legal markets so they could more easily comply with tax laws.<\/p>\n Federal data shows that\u00a0many financial institutions remain hesitant<\/a>\u00a0to take on cannabis companies as clients, however, which is likely due to the fact that the plant is a strictly controlled substance under federal law.<\/p>\n Read the letter<\/a> from the credit union associations on marijuana banking below:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Click to access 110421_ndaa_joint-trade.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The post Credit Unions Urge Congress To Pass Marijuana Banking Reform Through Defense Bill<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Major associations representing U.S. credit unions are calling on Congress to pass marijuana banking reform through must-pass defense legislation. It\u2019s the latest in a series of requests from lawmakers, stakeholders and advocates to advance legislation to protect financial institutions that work with state-legal cannabis businesses from being penalized by federalContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51474"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51474"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51475,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51474\/revisions\/51475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n
\nRead More: Credit Unions Urge Congress To Pass Marijuana Banking Reform Through Defense Bill<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"