As lawmakers work to advance marijuana banking reform, a coalition of cannabis regulators representing 40 U.S. states and territories are explaining to Congress just what the current lack of access to traditional financial services means\u2014not just for the businesses and the programs they oversee, but for the regulators navigating this federal-state conflict themselves.<\/p>\n
The non-partisan Cannabis Regulators Association (CANNRA), which doesn\u2019t take a stand on legalization itself, sent a letter to congressional leaders on Wednesday, outlining three key areas of concern for their states\u2019 respective marijuana markets under the status quo of federal prohibition.<\/p>\n
The letter doesn\u2019t specifically endorse the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act\u2014which is a major component of a debate playing out in a bicameral conference committee where lawmakers are seeking to attach the legislation\u2019s language to a large-scale manufacturing bill. But it does say that the \u201clack of safe banking and financial services for the cannabis industry and for those indirectly involved in cannabis marketplaces has become a dire public safety issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cVirtually all our member states and territories have been negatively impacted by the lack of available financial and banking services for cannabis businesses and those working with the cannabis industry,\u201d it says<\/a>.<\/p>\n The main problems that they identified concern public safety and security, the lack of access to banking and depository services and the need for small and minority businesses to access financial institutions.<\/p>\n As has been noted by several congressional proponents of reform and stakeholders, the banking dilemma has forced many marijuana businesses to operate on a largely cash-only basis that has made them unique targets of crime. The letter gives examples of recent violent and sometimes robberies that have taken place at retailers in a number of states in recent months.<\/p>\n \u201cA lack of access to safe banking not only fuels these crimes (by increasing the perception that cannabis businesses carry large amounts of cash on-site), but significantly threatens the public safety of neighborhoods and communities nationwide,\u201d they said. \u201cIn addition to decreasing these threats, access to traditional banking services would provide our regulatory agencies with greater insight into licensed operators and could help in efforts to prevent diversion and criminal enterprises.\u201d<\/p>\n CANNRA said that while the difficulties that marijuana businesses face without being able to use traditional financial services has been well documented, it\u2019s less known that the problem is also \u201cimpacting government agencies regulating cannabis.\u201d<\/p>\n The organization cited an example out of Maryland where regulators had selected a \u201cstate vendor for electronic banking services,\u201d only to have that vendor decline to service the state-legal medical cannabis industry, forcing them to seek out an alternative option that still only provided limited services, complicating the collection of licensing fees.<\/p>\n \u201cSimilarly, other state regulatory agencies have had to create workarounds to collect licensing fees from the businesses they regulate,\u201d the letter says. \u201cEven CANNRA\u2014an organization comprised entirely of government officials\u2014has faced challenges to acquiring financial services because we have \u2018cannabis\u2019 in our name.\u201d<\/p>\n The new letter also says that the current problem is having a disparate impact on small and minority businesses, the regulators wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile larger operators have typically had the resources to identify and create alternatives for banking and financial transactions, small businesses have struggled and are often the entities left without access to capital and with cash-only operations, creating increased public safety risks,\u201d they said. \u201cThis impacts the viability and success of small and minority cannabis businesses in this space.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor minority cannabis businesses, these issues can be compounded by historic and present discriminatory practices in banking and lending in general. As states continue to seek policy solutions to support small business, minority business, and women-owned business in the cannabis space, the lack of banking and financial resources and access to loans and capital remains a massive impediment and is further exacerbating disparities in the cannabis marketplace.\u201d<\/p>\n The letter concludes by reiterating that the \u201clack of safe banking and financial services for the cannabis industry and for those indirectly involved in cannabis marketplaces has become a dire public safety issue.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn addition, it further exacerbates the uneven playing field that exists for small and minority cannabis businesses,\u201d it says. \u201cCannabis regulators across states continue to strive for regulations that protect public health and consumer safety, promote equity, and promote regulatory certainty for industry operators. Access to safe banking is an integral part of our ability to accomplish these goals.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe urge congress to take these state realities to heart and to prioritize policy approaches that promote safe banking,\u201d CANNRA said. The letter\u2019s primary signatories were regulators serving in Georgia, Hawaii, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.<\/p>\n Another group of marijuana regulators, Cannabis Regulators of Color Coalition, has separately\u00a0weighed in on the cannabis banking conundrum<\/a>, and argued in a Marijuana Moment op-ed that the SAFE Banking Act alone will not provide sufficient help for small businesses. The group says advocates should push to add provisions to the bill providing interim safeguards for Community Financial Depository Institutions (CFDIs) and Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs), as well as measures to prevent predatory lending and promote loan availability for people from disadvantaged communities.<\/p>\n Members of Congress have been hearing from a variety of banking associations, lawmakers and other stakeholders who want leaders to stop delaying the enactment of the SAFE Banking Act. And some are holding out hope that it will be included following bicameral negotiations on the manufacturing bill known as the America COMPETES Act.<\/p>\n Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), an appointed conferee on that legislation, recently said that he feels there \u201ctremendous momentum\u201d<\/a> to get the marijuana banking job done through their negotiations.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got a vehicle that needs to to be acted upon relatively soon. There\u2019s broad support for it,\u201d the Congressional Cannabis Caucus co-chair, who\u00a0led a letter to leadership late last month<\/a>\u00a0that stressed the urgency of enacting the banking reform, said. \u201cI think that there\u2019s tremendous momentum.\u201d<\/p>\n The conference committee\u00a0held its first meeting on the America COMPETES Act<\/a>\u00a0last week, with multiple appointed conferees urging the body to attach the SAFE Banking Act language in the interest of economic competitiveness and public safety.<\/p>\n Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), who chairs the House Financial Services Committee and\u00a0previously listed marijuana banking as a legislative priority<\/a>\u00a0ahead of the conference, said that the bipartisan nature of the reform proposal is \u201cevident\u201d based on the fact that the House included it in the chamber\u2019s version of the manufacturing bill before it was removed in the Senate.<\/p>\n Additionally, nearly a quarter of all senators\u00a0sent a bipartisan letter last week urging that cannabis banking be included in the final bill<\/a>.<\/p>\n The third-highest-ranking Democratic member in the Senate, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA),\u00a0has taken special interest in marijuana banking reform<\/a>, describing it as a priority of hers as an appointed member on the bicameral conference committee.<\/p>\n She said last week that she hopes \u201cwe can all come to an agreement to keep SAFE Banking in our final bill so that cannabis stores in states like mine do not have to operate entirely in cash.\u201d<\/p>\n Blumenauer said on Monday that he believes that the conference could finalize its report within \u201cthe next couple of months\u201d ahead of the summer recess, if not sooner.<\/p>\n Despite continually passing though the House, the Senate has been reluctant to advance the measure under Democratic and Republican control. Current Senate leadership has insisted on passing comprehensive legalization legislation first before the cannabis banking bill.<\/p>\n A top aide for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who is working to finalize his own legalization bill, recently tempered expectations about\u00a0the prospects of moving marijuana banking<\/a>\u00a0through the America COMPETES Act.<\/p>\n Asked by Marijuana Moment whether there are any specific, equity-centered policies that he\u2019s discussed adding to the SAFE Banking Act with Senate leadership, Blumenauer said that he\u2019d \u201cprefer not to go into\u201d discussions he may have had with Senate colleagues, and he put the onus on the opposite chamber to propose any specific changes that would make the legislation more palatable to them.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have the opportunity to move something forward, and I welcome those efforts,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m perfectly willing to work with them as far as they can go as long as it doesn\u2019t get in the way of solving this.\u201d<\/p>\n The standalone Senate version of the SAFE Banking Act currently has 42 cosponsors, including nine Republicans.<\/p>\n That reluctance on the Senate side was also the\u00a0subject of a letter<\/a>\u00a0that SAFE Banking Act sponsor Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) sent to leadership last month.<\/p>\n In a previous statement to Marijuana Moment, Perlmutter pointed out that \u201cmore than two-thirds of the conferees have already voted for or cosponsored the SAFE Banking Act.\u201d<\/p>\n The congressman has even made a point to talk about enacting the reform legislation\u00a0during committee hearings on ostensibly unrelated or wider-ranging legislation<\/a>, like at a recent House Rules Committee hearing.<\/p>\n Despite recently\u00a0saying that he\u2019s \u201cconfident\u201d that the Senate will take up his bill<\/a>\u00a0this session, Perlmutter 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 Meanwhile, the governor, attorney general and other top officials in Washington State\u00a0sent a letter to congressional leaders<\/a>\u00a0earlier this month, again emphasizing the urgent need to pass marijuana banking reform as a public safety imperative.<\/p>\n Separately, Washington State officials also\u00a0recently held a virtual roundtable<\/a>\u00a0to address the spate of deadly robberies targeting marijuana retailers, with regulators reiterating their call for a federal policy change and discussing steps the state can take on its own while Congress fails to act.<\/p>\n Washington State\u2019s treasurer has been especially vocal about the need for congressional reform, and he\u00a0wrote in a recent letter to his colleagues<\/a>\u00a0in other states that it\u2019s \u201cjust not safe to have this financial volume in cash.\u201d<\/p>\n He made similar remarks at a\u00a0recent conference of the National Association of State Treasurers (NAST)<\/a>. And Colorado Treasurer Dave Young\u00a0echoed that sentiment in a recent interview<\/a>\u00a0with Marijuana Moment.<\/p>\n In the absence of congressional action, more states are moving to enact marijuana banking reform policies on their own. For example, Pennsylvania House lawmakers filed a companion bill to a Senate-passed measure late last month that would\u00a0provide banking protections and tax relief for marijuana businesses<\/a>.<\/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 Read the new letter<\/a> from the marijuana regulators on passing cannabis banking reform below:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n The post State Marijuana Regulators Say Banking Fix Will Make Their Jobs Easier In Addition To Helping Businesses<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
As lawmakers work to advance marijuana banking reform, a coalition of cannabis regulators representing 40 U.S. states and territories are explaining to Congress just what the current lack of access to traditional financial services means\u2014not just for the businesses and the programs they oversee, but for the regulators navigating thisContinue 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\/54779"}],"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=54779"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54780,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54779\/revisions\/54780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: State Marijuana Regulators Say Banking Fix Will Make Their Jobs Easier In Addition To Helping Businesses<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"