420 with CNW — SAFE Banking Act Sponsor Vows to See Bill Passed Before He Retires
Operating in the legal cannabis space is no mean feat. Due to the plant’s federal status as a controlled substance, marijuana businesses have to deal with a lot of issues that players in other industries don’t even have to think of. For starters, most banks refuse to work with marijuana businesses in fear of federal reprisals, forcing the businesses to operate on a largely cash-only basis. This makes accounting and filing taxes extremely cumbersome and makes the business prime targets for criminals.
For quite a while, industry stakeholders have argued for some kind of policy or regulation that would allow these companies access banking services. The only lawmaker who heeded the call was Rep. Ed Perlmutter, who introduced the Secure and Fair Enforcement (“SAFE”) Banking Act to the House of Representatives in March 2019. The legislation would prohibit federal banking regulators from penalizing banks that provided financial services to legal cannabis businesses. Despite the potential benefits it could provide to the industry, the SAFE Banking Act did not gain the traction it needed to advance.
While the House has approved some form of the SAFE Banking Act, it failed to advance past the Senate in any form even when the Democrats had majority votes. Perlmutter, who recently announced that he would be retiring from Congress come next election, says this has left him “pretty irritated.” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has consistently stood in the way of his bipartisan legislation. Schumer has been working on a federal legalization bill with federal lawmakers for some time now, and he does not want banking legislation before comprehensive cannabis reform is enacted.
With Perlmutter now in his final days as a lawmaker, he says he will use his remaining time to push the SAFE Banking Act and see get it approved. He “absolutely” believes that if the bill lands on President Joe Biden’s desk, the president will sign it into law. Forty-seven states now have some kind of marijuana market, he says, and this greatly underscores the need for “legitimate banking services.” So although he’s a frustrated with the SAFE Banking Act’s lack of progress, Perlmutter believes that the bill’s passage is a “no brainer.”
He plans on playing a major role in helping to establish cannabis banking and hopes legislators will be able to get the bill through the senate and onto the president’s desk by the end of the year. If this law were to be enacted, cannabis sector players such as Red White & Bloom Brands Inc. (CSE: RWB) (OTCQX: RWBYF) would have one less regulatory hurdle to face in their bid to expand their operations and address the needs of more consumers.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Red White & Bloom Brands Inc. (CSE: RWB) (OTCQX: RWBYF) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://cnw.fm/RWBYF
Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the CannabisNewsWire website applicable to all content provided by CNW420, wherever published or re-published: http://CNW.fm/Disclaimer
Operating in the legal cannabis space is no mean feat. Due to the plant’s federal status as a controlled substance, marijuana businesses have to deal with a lot of issues that players in other industries don’t even have to think of. For starters, most banks refuse to work with marijuana businesses in fear of federal reprisals, forcing the businesses to operate on a largely cash-only basis. This makes accounting and filing taxes extremely cumbersome and makes the business prime targets for criminals.
For quite a while, industry stakeholders have argued for some kind of policy or regulation that would allow these companies access banking services. The only lawmaker who heeded the call was Rep. Ed Perlmutter, who introduced the Secure and Fair Enforcement (“SAFE”) Banking Act to the House of Representatives in March 2019. The legislation would prohibit federal banking regulators from penalizing banks that provided financial services to legal cannabis businesses. Despite the potential benefits it could provide to the industry, the SAFE Banking Act did not gain the traction it needed to advance.
While the House has approved some form of the SAFE Banking Act, it failed to advance past the Senate in any form even when the Democrats had majority votes. Perlmutter, who recently announced that he would be retiring from Congress come next election, says this has left him “pretty irritated.” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has consistently stood in the way of his bipartisan legislation. Schumer has been working on a federal legalization bill with federal lawmakers for some time now, and he does not want banking legislation before comprehensive cannabis reform is enacted.
With Perlmutter now in his final days as a lawmaker, he says he will use his remaining time to push the SAFE Banking Act and see get it approved. He “absolutely” believes that if the bill lands on President Joe Biden’s desk, the president will sign it into law. Forty-seven states now have some kind of marijuana market, he says, and this greatly underscores the need for “legitimate banking services.” So although he’s a frustrated with the SAFE Banking Act’s lack of progress, Perlmutter believes that the bill’s passage is a “no brainer.”
He plans on playing a major role in helping to establish cannabis banking and hopes legislators will be able to get the bill through the senate and onto the president’s desk by the end of the year. If this law were to be enacted, cannabis sector players such as Red White & Bloom Brands Inc. (CSE: RWB) (OTCQX: RWBYF) would have one less regulatory hurdle to face in their bid to expand their operations and address the needs of more consumers.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Red White & Bloom Brands Inc. (CSE: RWB) (OTCQX: RWBYF) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://cnw.fm/RWBYF
Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the CannabisNewsWire website applicable to all content provided by CNW420, wherever published or re-published: http://CNW.fm/Disclaimer
