March 27, 2019
Legislation advances to provide financial services legitimacy to the cannabis industry.
The House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday approved legislation aimed at public safety, to allow the cannabis industry to legitimately access financial services products in jurisdictions where marijuana has been declared legal to consume.
The act, authored by Rep. Earl Permutter (D-CO) and Rep. Denny Heck (D-WA), included provisions advanced by Rep. Steve Stivers (R-OH) to allow insurers access to the cannabis marketplace, notwithstanding federal statutes that classify marijuana as a controlled substance.
The Council strongly supported the measure, and appreciates the efforts of Reps. Perlmutter, Heck and Stivers in modernizing laws to enable lawful enterprises to be able to access the full panoply of financial services products.