Democratic congresswoman has criticized the exclusion from an important spending bill, which was passed last week, of provisions that would protect banks working with businesses licensed to grow marijuana or hemp.
During a House Appropriations Committee meeting on the Financial Service and General Government legislation (FSGG), Rep. Betty McCollum, D-MN said that she was “disappointed’ about cannabis policy omissions.
She said that the bill would not be able to provide financial services to all business without this legislation.
McCollum emphasized hemp in her remarks, even though Minnesota legalized marijuana for adult use. The 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp at the federal level.
Hemp [industry] in the past six years—and across the country, in Minnesota—have rebuilt a domestic supply chain of hemp and hemp products,” the congresswoman said.
McCollum’s support of Andy Harris, her Republican colleague from Maryland, on this issue is noteworthy. Harris wants to ban intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids, which are a large part of the industry.
Hemp is used to make a number of different products: textiles and paper. It can also be made into cardboard. [and] She said, “I use oils as therapeutic and medical remedies.”
Hemp business is legal. She said that banks serving hemp businesses need to report suspicious activities at the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. This heavy regulatory burden is a concern for many banks, who live in fear. As a result, many hemp businesses operate primarily in cash—jeopardizing the safety of their employees, their customers—or they seek the few banks who are willing to accept the risk until we do something to regulate this common sense hemp and cannabis policy.”
A coalition of bipartisan attorneys general, representing 32 U.S. states and territories, recently asked Congress to pass the marijuana banking legislation in order to give licensed cannabis companies access to financial services.
A Democratic Senate sponsor who sponsored the Marijuana Banking Bill recently stated that despite attempts to coordinate meetings centered around the legislation other priorities had taken priority for now.
Asked about recent comments from Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH)—the lead GOP sponsor of the SAFER Banking Act this session who told MEDCAN24 that he doesn’t expect the bill to come up until this fall—Sen. Jeff Merkley said that he hopes the bill will be introduced sooner rather than late.
In January, the office of Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH), who is again leading the effort on the House said, told MEDCAN24 that he would be filing the cannabis banking legislation this session but that its introduction was “not imminent” as some earlier reports had suggested.
McCollum, at the hearing on Wednesday, did not attempt to amend this spending bill. However, the legislation includes a report that directs federal agencies to evaluate “adequacy of state-level cannabis regulatory models”.
It also includes longstanding provisions blocking Washington, D.C. from using its tax dollars to legalize cannabis sales.
Although local legislators have worked around the law to some degree by expanding the access to a medical marijuana program that already exists, many advocates believe Harris’ rider is a disturbing infringement of D.C.’s independence.
The White House has called the District’s move to enact local marijuana reform an example of a “failed” policy that “opened the door to disorder.”
Brendan Cleak is the photographer.
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