![](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/MM_Bill_Tracker_V5_blank-16.jpg\"){kind=tracking}
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
A New Jersey Assembly committee has approved a bill to provide state-level protections for banks and insurers that work with licensed marijuana businesses.<\/p>\n
The Assembly Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee passed the bill from Assemblymember Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D) with nearly unanimous support on Monday.<\/p>\n
The bill would not immunize banks that service state-legal cannabis businesses from being penalized under federal law, but the committee action comes as congressional leaders are planning to file legislation that\u2019s expected to contain those broader safeguards.<\/p>\n
While the reform enjoyed strong support at Monday\u2019s hearing, a couple members raised concerns about enacting something that might give people a \u201cfalse sense of security\u201d in light of ongoing federal prohibition, as the panel\u2019s vice chair said.<\/p>\n
Under the measure, it would be unlawful for a state agency to \u201cprohibit, penalize, or otherwise discourage a financial institution or insurer from providing financial or insurance services to a legitimate cannabis-related business or the business associates of a legitimate cannabis-related business,\u201d the text says.<\/p>\n
Agencies also could not \u201crecommend, incentivize, or encourage a financial institution or insurer not to offer financial or insurance services to an account holder, or downgrade or cancel services provided to the account holder, solely because the account holder is a legitimate cannabis-related business or a business associate of a legitimate cannabis-related business.\u201d<\/p>\n
It continues<\/a>: \u201cNo financial institution or insurer, or the directors, officers, employees, agents, owners, shareholders, or members of a financial institution or insurer, shall be subject to a criminal prosecution, sanction, or claim for damages or any equitable remedy, solely because the institution or insurer is providing financial or insurance services to or for the benefit of a legitimate cannabis-related business or the business associates of a legitimate cannabis-related business.\u201d<\/p>\n Members adopted an amendment before advancing the legislation, but the text of the changes are not yet publicly available.<\/p>\n The first adult-use marijuana retailers opened in New Jersey in April, and the state has seen significant demand, with sales reaching about $80 million in the first ten weeks<\/a> alone.<\/p>\n New Jersey is bordered by two states\u2014Pennsylvania and New York\u2014where lawmakers have also taken steps to advance cannabis industry banking reform.<\/p>\n Pennsylvania\u2019s legislature passed a marijuana banking bill earlier this year<\/a>, and the governor signed it into law in July.<\/p>\n In New York, a senator filed legislation in April that\u2019s meant to give banks in the state some peace of mind<\/a> about working with legal cannabis businesses by allowing regulators to disclose certain information about marijuana licensees to financial institutions.<\/p>\n Back in New Jersey, the Assembly approved a bill in October<\/a>\u00a0that would allow licensed marijuana businesses to deduct certain expenses on their state tax returns, a partial remedy as the industry continues to be blocked from making federal deductions under Internal Revenue Service (IRS) code known as 280E.<\/p>\n But state-level reform can only provide so much in the way of protections for financial institutions under federal prohibition.<\/p>\n \u201cSome banks in New Jersey partake in the business, others do not because they fear violating federal law,\u201d a representative of the Pennsylvania Bankers Association said at Monday\u2019s hearing<\/a>. \u201cThis inherent tension between state and federal law, and the risk that\u2019s baked into it, is what makes this determination of who is going to participate in this business.\u201d<\/p>\n Recognizing that issue, congressional lawmakers are expected to imminently introduce legislation that includes language from the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act, with plans to pass it during the lame duck session.<\/p>\n The House has passed that bill in some form seven times now, but it\u2019s consistently stalled in the Senate.<\/p>\n Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), the House sponsor of the legislation, said last week that he sees\u00a0signs that the Senate will finally act<\/a>\u00a0on the banking reform during the lame duck session\u2014but he cautioned that he\u2019s \u201cbeen disappointed before.\u201d<\/p>\n Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) had said in October that Congress was getting \u201cvery close\u201d<\/a>\u00a0to introducing and passing the marijuana banking and expungements bill, citing progress he\u2019s made in discussions with a \u201cbunch of Republican senators.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 The Department of Justice sent a memo to the congressional lawmakers<\/a> about the SAFE Banking Act earlier this year, saying the legislation as drafted could \u201csignificantly complicate law enforcement investigations and prosecutions\u201d of crimes involving other drugs or money laundering.<\/p>\n However, the agency did suggest that the bill is fixable from its perspective and offered guidance on how to resolve various issues\u2014and Senate sources told Marijuana Moment that since receiving the memo earlier this year, lawmakers have effectively addressed DOJ\u2019s concerns as a product of bipartisan negotiations over the forthcoming cannabis reform package.<\/p>\n Another federal agency recently released new and expanded data<\/a> on the state of banking in the cannabis industry under the prohibitionist status quo.<\/p>\n At a top level, the takeaway is that the number of banks and credit unions that reported actively working with marijuana companies in the third quarter of the 2022 Fiscal Year remained relatively stable, with 784 financial institutions across the U.S. filing requisite \u201cSuspicious Activity Reports,\u201d or SARs, for marijuana-related business (MRB) clients.<\/p>\n About three in four American voters\u2014including bipartisan majorities\u2014support ending federal marijuana prohibition, expunging prior convictions and allowing banks to work with state-legal cannabis businesses, according to a recent poll<\/a>.<\/p>\n Back in New Jersey, cannabis regulators approved rules for \u201cpublic cannabis consumption areas\u201d<\/a> last week, bringing the state one step closer to providing the social use option to adults and patients.<\/p>\n A bill filed by Senate President Nicholas Scutari (D) over the summer would also authorize the governor to\u00a0enter into agreements for interstate marijuana commerce<\/a>\u00a0with other states that have legalized cannabis. However, the agreements could only be forged if federal law changes, or if the Justice Department issues guidance permitting such activity.<\/p>\n The Senate president separately\u00a0filed legislation to legalize psilocybin in New Jersey<\/a>, and it includes provisions that would allow people to cultivate the psychedelic at home.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Gov. Phil Murphy (D) said recently that\u00a0the state should \u201crevisit\u201d its current criminalization<\/a>\u00a0of homegrown marijuana for personal use\u2014but he thinks that conversation should happen at a later point after the commercial market has matured.<\/p>\n Congressional Researchers Lay Out Six Key Limitations Of Biden\u2019s Marijuana Pardons<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post New Jersey Lawmakers Approve Marijuana Banking Protections Bill As Congress Prepares To Act<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A New Jersey Assembly committee has approved a bill to provide state-level protections for banks and insurers that work with licensed marijuana businesses. The Assembly Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee passed the bill from Assemblymember Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D) with nearly unanimous support on Monday. The bill would not immunize banksContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":58936,"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\/58935"}],"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=58935"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58935\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58937,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58935\/revisions\/58937"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nMarijuana Moment is tracking more than 1,500 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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/MM_Bill_Tracker_V5_blank-15.jpg\"){kind=tracking}
<\/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\n
\n
\nRead More: New Jersey Lawmakers Approve Marijuana Banking Protections Bill As Congress Prepares To Act<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"