Cannabis stocks up on word of Senate committee action on SAFE Banking #cannabis #CannabisStocks
Cannabis stocks up on word of Senate committee action on SAFE Banking #cannabis #CannabisStocks
Mullti-state operators are mostly higher in Friday trading amid a report that the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee will mark up the SAFE Banking Act the week of Sept. 25.
NBC News reported that the bill has bipartisan support in the committee. Republican Sen. Steve Daines of Montana told the financial news network the votes are there to pass the bill in the full Senate.
Sen. Kevin Cramer, (R-N.D.), echoed Daines, saying, “I feel pretty good about passing the bill.”
Even if SAFE Banking — which would allow legal cannabis companies to work with the U.S. financial system — passes the Senate, the outlook for the legislation in the House is murky. Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has supported the legislation in previous years, but it is unclear if he still does and whether he would push the bill as a priority.
Still, some lawmakers who oppose legalizing marijuana could still vote in favor of SAFE Banking because it provides a level of safety for marijuana dispensaries. Because they are cash-only businesses, they are frequent targets of robberies.
“The emphasis needs to be on safety,” Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) told NBC News. “So what I really worry about is someone’s going to get murdered or robbed and severely beaten, and then we’re going to be spurred to action. And that’s the wrong way to do it, you know?”
