REPRESENTING BUSINESS ISSUES
Bipartisan Effort Being Made to Improve Safety for Legal Cannabis Businesses Bipartisan Group of Senators Calls to Include the SAFE Banking Act in Compromise House-Senate Competitiveness Bill Washington, D.C. | May 12, 2022 T oday, Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley and Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) led 22 of their colleagues in a bipartisan effort requesting that congressional leadership include the Secure and Fair Enforcement Kevin McCarthy in the House, notes the SAFE Banking Act has passed the House six times—most recently as an amendment to its version of the bipartisan competition bill, and urges leadership to ensure the text of that amendment remains in the final conferenced version of the bill to be considered by both the House and the Senate. “The SAFE Banking Act, as included in the House-passed
(SAFE) Banking Act of 2021, which would allow state-legal cannabis business to access banking services, in the final version of competitiveness legislation currently being negotiated between the House and Senate. Passage of the SAFE Banking Act, which Merkley has introduced since 2015, would help ensure that legal cannabis businesses do not have to operate in all-cash—the current reality for thousands of small businesses across the country, which has led to ongoing threats of robbery and assault for business owners and employees. The letter sent to Senate Leaders Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Leader
America COMPETES Act, would allow banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions to offer banking services to legally-operating cannabis businesses without fear of punishment by federal regulators,” wrote the lawmakers. “Currently, thirty-seven states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for medical use, and eighteen states and the District of Columbia allow adult recreational use. As a result, the cannabis industry has become a powerful job creator and a significant generator
16
The Business Review | May 2022
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online