{"id":53386,"date":"2022-03-08T12:53:09","date_gmt":"2022-03-08T20:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2022\/03\/08\/congressman-pledges-to-be-a-real-pest-until-senate-passes-his-marijuana-banking-bill\/"},"modified":"2022-03-08T13:45:34","modified_gmt":"2022-03-08T21:45:34","slug":"congressman-pledges-to-be-a-real-pest-until-senate-passes-his-marijuana-banking-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2022\/03\/08\/congressman-pledges-to-be-a-real-pest-until-senate-passes-his-marijuana-banking-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Congressman Pledges To Be A \u2018Real Pest\u2019 Until Senate Passes His Marijuana Banking Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) says that he intends to continue to put significant pressure on his Senate colleagues to advance a bill protecting banks that work with state-legal marijuana businesses as he prepares for retirement from Congress.<\/p>\n

Speaking at an event hosted by the American Bankers Association (ABA) on Tuesday, the sponsor of the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act was pressed on the measure\u2019s prospects after it\u2019s cleared the House six times now in some form without any action in the Senate under either Republican or Democratic control.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will continue to be a real pest, and persistent in getting this done,\u201d Perlmutter told ABA executive vice president for congressional relations and political affairs James Ballantine, stressing the public safety concerns that have emerged like robberies of state-legal marijuana retailers who are currently forced to operate on a largely cash-only basis.<\/p>\n

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During his conversation with @JCBallentine<\/a> at #ABASummit<\/a>, @RepPerlmutter<\/a> offered recent examples of public safety issues that could be resolved with passage of the #SAFEBanking<\/a> Act, which would make it possible to bank cannabis businesses in states where cannabis is legal. pic.twitter.com\/QQ9lkMg1uT<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 American Bankers Association (@ABABankers) March 8, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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It\u2019s not just your run-of-the-mill robberies that the cash-intensive industry faces, either, Perlmutter said. He referenced instances where police have allegedly targeted armored cars<\/a> \u201cfilled with cash from medical dispensaries\u201d and seized the dollars, which \u201cseemed to [have] a little bit of help by the federal government\u2014FBI in one instance, the DEA and another\u2014even though was all perfectly legal at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The congressman took the ABA official through the timeline of the SAFE Banking Act and how the notion of such cannabis reform was first laughed off by his colleagues years ago. But as the issue gained momentum, he\u2019s faced different obstacles. With the GOP in control of the Senate last session, key lawmakers blocked hearings because they felt it was too broad; with Democrats now in control, they tell him it\u2019s too narrow.<\/p>\n

\u2014
\nMarijuana Moment is already tracking more than 1,000 cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills<\/a> in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters<\/a> pledging at least $25\/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don\u2019t miss any developments.<\/strong>
\n\"\"<\/a>
\nLearn more about our marijuana bill tracker<\/a> and become a supporter on Patreon<\/a> to get access.
\n\u2014<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Following the bipartisan House passage of the banking bill, Perlmutter said he naively expected it \u201cto sail through the Senate, which is always a bad assumption, because nothing sails through the Senate.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he\u2019s taken pains to build support, including from current Senate leadership that has insisted on enacting comprehensive legalization with firm equity provisions in place before advancing a bill viewed as friendly to the industry.<\/p>\n

Despite recently saying that he\u2019s \u201cconfident\u201d that the Senate will take up his bill<\/a> this session, the congressman recognized that while he\u2019s supportive of revisions related to criminal justice reform, taxation, research and other issues, he knows that \u201cas we expand this thing, then we start losing votes, particularly Republican votes and we got enough votes in the Senate to do it\u201d as is.<\/p>\n

Perlmutter also brought up the fact that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has addressed the federal-state marijuana banking conflict<\/a> and \u201cshe wants to get this off her plate and get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n

But President Joe Biden and his administration have been \u201ca little bit leery and cautious on this subject.\u201d While the president campaigned on modest cannabis reforms such expungements and rescheduling (promises that have yet gone unfulfilled), he\u2019s not specifically weighed in on the banking issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut with respect to being able to normalize, in effect, banking relationships for the dispensary, for the grower, for the shop and owner, for the accountant, for the lawyer who represents the marijuana business or the related business or the bank, I think we\u2019re in good shape on that,\u201d the congressman said.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the ABA event<\/a>, the financial group released a poll that it commissioned showing that a strong majority of Americans support freeing up banks to work with marijuana businesses<\/a> without facing federal penalties.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the number of banks that report working with marijuana businesses\u00a0ticked up again near the end of 2021<\/a>, according to recently released federal data.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not clear if the increase is related to congressional moves to pass a bipartisan cannabis banking reform bill, but the figures from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) signal that financial institutions continue to feel more comfortable servicing businesses in state-legal markets.<\/p>\n

Some Republicans are scratching their heads about how Democrats have so far failed to pass the modest banking reform with majorities in both chambers and control of the White House, too. For example, Rep. Rand Paul (R-KY)\u00a0criticized his Democratic colleagues over the issue<\/a>\u00a0in December.<\/p>\n

In the interim, federal financial regulator Rodney Hood\u2014a board member and former chairman of the federal National Credit Union Administration (NCUA)\u2014recently said that marijuana legalization is not a question of \u201cif\u201d but \u201cwhen,\u201d and he\u2019s again offering advice on\u00a0how to navigate the federal-state conflict<\/a>\u00a0that has left many banks reluctant to work with cannabis businesses.<\/p>\n

\n

Oklahoma House Passes Psilocybin Decriminalization And Research Bill, Sending It To Senate<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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The post Congressman Pledges To Be A \u2018Real Pest\u2019 Until Senate Passes His Marijuana Banking Bill<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\nRead More: Congressman Pledges To Be A \u2018Real Pest\u2019 Until Senate Passes His Marijuana Banking Bill<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) says that he intends to continue to put significant pressure on his Senate colleagues to advance a bill protecting banks that work with state-legal marijuana businesses as he prepares for retirement from Congress. Speaking at an event hosted by the American Bankers Association (ABA) on Tuesday,Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":53387,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53386"}],"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=53386"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53388,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53386\/revisions\/53388"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}