{"id":64939,"date":"2023-05-12T09:37:41","date_gmt":"2023-05-12T17:37:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2023\/05\/12\/missouri-lawmakers-send-bill-easing-marijuana-businesses-banking-access-to-governors-desk\/"},"modified":"2023-05-12T17:45:47","modified_gmt":"2023-05-13T01:45:47","slug":"missouri-lawmakers-send-bill-easing-marijuana-businesses-banking-access-to-governors-desk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2023\/05\/12\/missouri-lawmakers-send-bill-easing-marijuana-businesses-banking-access-to-governors-desk\/","title":{"rendered":"Missouri Lawmakers Send Bill Easing Marijuana Businesses\u2019 Banking Access To Governor\u2019s Desk"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

\u201cThis bill also permits agencies involved to share information so that the banks or credit unions may ensure the business is a legal cannabis business, paying taxes to the state of Missouri.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

By Rebecca Rivas, Missouri Independent<\/strong><\/p>\n

Missouri\u2019s marijuana businesses would have fewer obstacles when it comes to accessing banking,\u00a0under legislation approved Thursday.<\/p>\n

Few banks\u00a0nationwide serve cannabis businesses and their owners\u2014or even their auxiliary partners \u2014because most want nothing to do with a business that sells a product the federal government still considers illegal. That\u2019s true even in states that have legalized marijuana.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the Missouri House passed a\u00a0bill<\/a>\u00a0allowing marijuana business owners to sign a waiver giving permission for state agencies to share their licensing and inspection information with their financial institutions.<\/p>\n

The feds have advised banks that they can provide services to the marijuana industry if they follow the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) guidelines.<\/p>\n

FinCEN requires banks to inspect every facility and licensee to make sure they\u2019re legal and reputable\u2014something the Department of Health and Senior Services, which oversees the state\u2019s marijuana program, already does, said Jim Regna, CEO and founder of Triad Bank.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn lieu of doing our own inspections,\u201d\u00a0Regna told lawmakers in March, \u201cit\u2019d be very, very helpful for us to be able to get this information from the Department of Health and Senior Services to make the program fluid and keep us in compliance with federal regulators.\u201d<\/p>\n

The provision was part of a\u00a0wide-ranging public safety bill\u00a0that also includes requiring fingerprint background checks for all cannabis employees and contractors\u2014language that also passed on a separate\u00a0bill\u00a0on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The bill is now headed to the governor\u2019s desk.<\/p>\n

Sen. Steve Roberts, D-St. Louis, has sponsored the bill since 2021 and says it has passed out of the Senate committee every year but always stalled after that. His\u00a0bill<\/a>\u00a0this year also passed out of the House Friday, and needs one more vote from the Senate.<\/p>\n

Roberts said the information from DHSS on licenses is required for financial institutions to comply with the U.S. Department of Treasury\u2019s analysis to combat money laundering and other financial crimes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis bill also permits agencies involved to share information,\u201d Roberts said during a hearing in February, \u201cso that the banks or credit unions may ensure the business is a legal cannabis business, paying taxes to the state of Missouri.\u201d<\/p>\n

Republican Rep. Chad Perkins of Bowling Green also sponsored a\u00a0bill<\/a>\u00a0this year. He told lawmakers during a March hearing that the bill is about giving banking institutions \u201csome protection\u201d if they chose to provide services to marijuana businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you were questionable about Amendment 3 last year, you would think that these banking industries have a right to a little more transparency,\u201d Perkins said. \u201cSo I would think you would really want to support this.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bill has support from the Missouri Division of Finance, the Missouri Bankers Association and the Missouri Credit Union Association, as well as The Missouri Cannabis Trade Association, which represents cannabis professionals and businesses.<\/p>\n

Supporters also said helping cannabis businesses get access to banking is a public safety issue.\u00a0Major credit card companies don\u2019t permit cannabis purchases. That means all transactions for cannabis businesses nationwide are done in cash.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s this divide between the federal and the state perspective on the topic that puts banks in a kind of tricky position,\u201d said Jackson Hataway, president of the Missouri Bankers Association.<\/p>\n

That divide has left businesses unbanked, victims of frequent robberies and at the mercy of companies offering banking services for exorbitant fees\u2014some that have now been deemed in violation of federal financial laws.<\/p>\n

The association is advocating for the federal SAFE Banking Act, which is proposed legislation aiming to allow banks to do business within states that have legalized marijuana. It\u2019s cleared the House several times, but has not yet passed.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we remain in the current quagmire we\u2019re stuck in,\u201d he said, \u201cwhere you have a lot of states like Missouri that have upward pressure from businesses to have a secure and safe banking environment. Because if they\u2019re all cash, they\u2019re very risky.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was first published by the Missouri Independent<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

New Hampshire Governor Backs Marijuana Legalization Through State-Run Stores After Senate Defeats Reform Bill<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

The post Missouri Lawmakers Send Bill Easing Marijuana Businesses\u2019 Banking Access To Governor\u2019s Desk<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\nRead More: Missouri Lawmakers Send Bill Easing Marijuana Businesses\u2019 Banking Access To Governor\u2019s Desk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThis bill also permits agencies involved to share information so that the banks or credit unions may ensure the business is a legal cannabis business, paying taxes to the state of Missouri.\u201d\u00a0 By Rebecca Rivas, Missouri Independent Missouri\u2019s marijuana businesses would have fewer obstacles when it comes to accessing banking,\u00a0underContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":457,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64939"}],"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\/457"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64939"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64939\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64940,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64939\/revisions\/64940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}