Pass Plan Now to Easily Allow CUs to Accept Marijuana Business: CUNA
The legislation would enable CUs to accept deposits, extend credit and provide payment services to marijuana-related businesses.
CUNA is pushing Congress to protect credit unions when they do business with marijuana-related businesses and would like the Senate to attach that provision to the criminal justice overhaul bill now on the Senate floor.
If the Senate fails to attach it to that fast-moving measure, CUNA asked Senate leaders to pass such legislation as quickly as possible.
“Right now, the communities in which cannabis businesses operate and the credit unions and other financial institutions that are trying to serve these businesses face a number of risks – some of which are known, others which are unknown, but all which can be mitigated through legislation that provides a safe harbor to bank these businesses,” said CUNA Chief Advocacy Officer Ryan Donovan. “If not through this legislation, we hope Congress will act on this matter as soon as possible.”
The Senate on Monday invoked cloture on the criminal justice bill, which would revise several federal criminal sentencing laws. Supporters of the measure consider the bill to be a fragile compromise and want to fight off many amendments that have been filed. The Senate is expected to vote on the bill this week and send it to the House, where supporters hope to pass it and send it to President Trump.
Despite the fast-moving nature of the bill, Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) is pushing an amendment that would attach marijuana legislation he and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have sponsored during this Congress.
“While we are debating criminal justice reform, we need to address the threat of prosecution by the federal government for people in Colorado that are operating legal businesses under state law,” he said, adding that 47 states have legalized some form of cannabis use.
He said that among other things, the legislation states that “compliant transactions are not trafficking and do not result in proceeds of an unlawful transaction.”
CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle said that provision is essential for credit unions.
“The legislation would provide credit unions and other financial institutions accepting deposits from, extending credit or providing payment services to an individual or business engaged in marijuana-related commerce in states where such activity is legal with appropriate legal protections, so long as they are compliant with all other applicable laws and regulations,” he said in a letter to senate leaders on Monday.
Nussle said that CUNA is not taking a position on the morality or wisdom of legalizing marijuana but said that businesses in states that have legalized it need access to the financial services that credit unions provide.