Marijuana banking reform has been excluded from a large-scale spending bill that\u2019s expected to be released as soon as Monday, Senate and House staffers familiar with negotiations told Marijuana Moment. A Republican senator who has been pushing to include the cannabis reform later confirmed the development.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not currently known whether the omnibus appropriations legislation includes a number of other marijuana and drug policy reforms that the House included in its versions of various spending bills earlier this year, or it if maintains a rider that has prevented Washington, D.C. from implementing a system of regulated, adult-use cannabis commerce.<\/p>\n
The omnibus development represents the second major setback for supporters of the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act during the lame duck session. After the proposal was excluded from the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)<\/a> earlier this month, the hope was that appropriations could serve as the vehicle for protecting banks that work with state-legal marijuana businesses. That didn\u2019t pan out, as Politico first reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n Despite Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) \u201cmaking a last ditch effort\u201d<\/a> to put cannabis banking reform in the omnibus, as one senior Democratic Senate staffer put it last week, negotiations failed to produce a package that includes the measure.<\/p>\n The lack of SAFE Banking language leaves supporters with few legislative options\u2014and very little time\u2014to advance the reform during the final weeks of the lame duck. It\u2019s still theoretically possible that the bill, or the broader SAFE Plus package that Schumer has been working on, could be introduced as a standalone\u2014but with only days left before lawmakers adjourn for the year that seems like a remote possibility at best.<\/p>\n The SAFE Plus legislation is expected to contain marijuana banking in addition to other proposals related to cannabis expungements and gun rights for marijuana consumers, among other provisions.<\/p>\n Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), the lead GOP sponsor of the SAFE Banking Act, decried its being left out of the appropriations measure.<\/p>\n \u201cThe failure to pass my bipartisan \u2018SAFE Banking Act\u2019 means communities in Montana and across our country will remain vulnerable to crime where legal businesses are forced to operate in all-cash,\u201d he said in a press release. \u201cThis bill to promote public safety would have been well positioned to pass had it gone through the regular committee process\u2014as I called for more than a year ago. Our small businesses, law enforcement and communities deserve better.\u201d<\/p>\n Most advocates will now look ahead to 2023 and the possibility of advancing the reform in a divided Congress.<\/p>\n While disappointing to supporters, the omission isn\u2019t especially surprising given recent comments from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers. Some members like Schumer and House SAFE Banking sponsor Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) had put up a fight to preserve the language, but others made clear that they felt the issue would need to be handled in the 118th Congress, with Democrats in control of the Senate and the House going to Republicans.<\/p>\n Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who applauded the exclusion of marijuana banking from NDAA earlier this month, insisted that Congress treat the proposal the same when it came to omnibus appropriations<\/a>, for example.<\/p>\n Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-OH) had signaled that he viewed cannabis banking as a likely 2023 issue<\/a>, though a staffer said last week that he was still be open to passing it through the spending package if it contained broader provisions.<\/p>\n Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), who will serve as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee in the next Congress, recently indicated that he similarly feels the issue will need to be decided after the lame duck<\/a>. The congressman said that he remains opposed to SAFE Banking, but he left the door open to advancing it if that\u2019s the will of his Republican colleagues.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I\u2019ve pledged is having an open process. I told my members my view of it,\u201d he said. \u201cMembers are able to come to their own conclusion about the bill. It\u2019s so variable state by state.\u201d<\/p>\n For his part, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) has pinned blame on McConnell, saying\u00a0that his vocal opposition to cannabis reform has had a chilling effect of GOP members who might otherwise be amenable to passing legislation that contains SAFE Banking language.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re dead set on anything in marijuana,\u201d he said, referring to Republican leadership. \u201cThat to me is the obstacle.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe caucus is clearly divided but the people in power in their caucus are clearly against doing anything on marijuana,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, SAFE Banking sponsor Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) said that he would \u201ckeep fighting\u201d to get the reform \u201cpassed this year,\u201d adding that \u201cthis is not the end of the road.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to make sure that legal cannabis businesses have access to the financial services they need\u2014operating in cash is an open door to robbery and money laundering,\u201d he said. That\u2019s also\u00a0a point highlighted in a recent analysis<\/a>\u00a0that looked at the trends and motivations for crimes targeting cannabis businesses in Washington State.<\/p>\n A problem that recently emerged amid negotiations over defense and spending legislation was a summer memo from the Justice Department<\/a> that was drafted at the request of Senate Republicans and surfaced this month, outlining possible unintended consequences of the marijuana banking reform as it relates to issues like money laundering enforcement.<\/p>\n A small group of Senate Republicans met with DOJ last week to seek assurances that issues it raised over SAFE Banking<\/a> were effectively resolved. Sources previously told Marijuana Moment that the concerns were addressed, but it\u2019s become clear that McConnell and other lawmakers weren\u2019t satisfied.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile we are disappointed that the Senate was unable to pass this critical piece of legislation before the end of this Congress, we remain hopeful that the work we have been doing with our allies on the Hill to improve the final package will pay off when Congress reconvenes in 2023,\u201d Minority Cannabis Business Association (MCBA) Board President Kaliko Castille said in a statement on Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring our conversations with Senate staffers it\u2019s been clear that we have support for amendments that MCBA has been advocating for, including; adding safe harbor language to include Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs), ending discrimination against cannabis entrepreneurs in Small Business Administration (SBA) programs, and adding language from the H.O.P.E. Act to help state and local governments move forward with record expungements for cannabis offenses,\u201d he said. \u201cWe will keep pushing for these changes and look forward to working with Congressional members from both sides of the aisle to make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n NORML Executive Director Erik Altieri said that\u00a0\u201cDemocrats have promised action on cannabis consistently for the last two years, yet leadership consistently failed to prioritize and advance marijuana reform legislation, including legislation to provide clarity to banks and to provide grant funding for state-level expungements efforts, despite having several opportunities to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDemocrats\u2019 failure and the GOP\u2019s continued resistance to any progress is out of step with voters\u2019 opinion, is bad politics, and most importantly, it is bad public policy,\u201d he said. \u201cUntil Congressional action is taken, state-licensed marijuana businesses, the hundreds of thousands of people they employ, and the millions of Americans that patronize them will continue to be at a higher risk of robbery due to the cash-heavy nature of this industry created by outdated federal laws. Furthermore, smaller entrepreneurs who seek to enter this industry will continue to struggle to compete against larger, more well-capitalized interests.\u201d<\/p>\n SAFE Banking is just one component of various appropriations bills that the House and Senate considered or advanced this year. The prior legislation also contained numerous other provisions ranging from protecting state marijuana programs from federal interference to removing the congressional blockade that\u2019s prevented Washington, D.C. to implement a system of regulated cannabis sales for adults.<\/p>\n The omnibus appropriations legislation is expected to be considered in the Senate first before moving to the House, where its first stop with be the Rules Committee. It\u2019s possible SAFE Banking could be proposed as an amendment, but it\u2019s unlikely given the high-level negotiations that it took to get to this stage and the fact that a continuing resolution is set to expire at the end of the week.<\/p>\n California Senator Files Revised Psychedelics Legalization Bill For 2023\u2014Leaving Out LSD, MDMA And Other Synthetics<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Marijuana Banking Left Out Of Federal Spending Bill, Congressional Sources Confirm<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Marijuana banking reform has been excluded from a large-scale spending bill that\u2019s expected to be released as soon as Monday, Senate and House staffers familiar with negotiations told Marijuana Moment. A Republican senator who has been pushing to include the cannabis reform later confirmed the development. It\u2019s not currently knownContinue 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\/59568"}],"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=59568"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59569,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59568\/revisions\/59569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n
\nRead More: Marijuana Banking Left Out Of Federal Spending Bill, Congressional Sources Confirm<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"