Category: banking

Today the U.S. The House of Representatives passed a cannabis reform bill for the first time. The new law would permit cannabis businesses to access banking and financial services.

The bill passed in a vote of 321-103. A total of 230 Democrats voted in favor of the bill while 91 Republicans also voted for the legislation. 102 Republicans opposed the bill despite overwhelming support by U.S. voters.

Next the bill advances to the Senate where it ia also expected to pass and then to the President for passage into law. This is really a major step forward for the industry.

This coming week the U.S. House of Representatives will introduce H.R. 1595, the SAFE Banking Act of 2019 that is intended to legalize cannabis banking. The bill has already cleared the Financial Services Committee and is expected to be voted on through a process known as ‘suspension of the rules’ that requires two-thirds of the chamber (290 members) to support the bill for passage.

It is uncertain what outcome we should expect but the bill already has 206 bipartisan co-sponsors.