 Pic Cred: BostonBakedPete at https://cannabis.net/blog/news/ Under Democratic control for the past four years, the House has passed the SAFE Banking Act seven times, including twice as standalone bills, but it has still not made it past the Senate.
There were hopes that would happen this month but one avenue for that has been shot down. Since November mid term elections, legislatures have been in what they call the “lame duck session,” which extends until January 3rd when the new congress takes over. This time period is usually when politicians feel more free to vote without fear causing election day reprocussions. And so, it was hoped that cananbis bills could get passed during this time. The hopes were that the US Senate might include a trio of cannabis bills in the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act ( or NDAA). Those bills would be: • The Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act • The Harnessing Opportunities by Pursuing Expungement(HOPE) Act • The Gun Rights and Marijuana(GRAM) Act But then the text of the NDAA was released, and the cannabis acts were not included. Despite bipartisan support for these bills, Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky spoke on the House floor and squashed all hope. He said, “unrelated nonsense like easier financing for illegal drugs was kept out.” And also said the cannabis bills were attempting to, “[make] our financial system more sympathetic to illegal drugs.” Cannabis advocates only have a couple options left for passing reform during the 2022 year. One option for that is the upcoming omnibus government spending bill. However, Senator McConnell has made it clear that he will oppose the cannabis policies inclusion in the omnibus package just like he did the NDAA. Therefore, it looks unlikely that the banking act will be attached to the omnibus bill. The cannabis package could be attached to another bill. It could also technically clear the Senate as a standalone vote, but insiders are not confident they’ll have time to schedule a vote before the session runs out. Rep. Earl Perlmutter (D-CO)—a veteran champion of cannabis reform—announced his intention to squeeze the policy in there. “I’m not giving up on this darn thing yet,” he said. Khadijah Tribble, CEO of the U.S. Cannabis Council (USCC), said in a public statement, "While it’s disappointing the Senate failed to include cannabis banking and restorative justice reforms in the NDAA, we are confident that the majority of Senators are committed to enacting a bipartisan version of SAFE Plus by the end of this year. Thus, we remain optimistic that we’ll see cannabis reforms appear in another legislative vehicle in the coming weeks.” Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-OH) said in an interview with Nexstar that aired on Monday that he sees a path forward. Brown said, “It absolutely could still happen,” and added that lawmakers are “this close to a deal,” placing his thumb and index fingers about an inch apart. Washington Democratic Senator Patty Murray is also pushing for cannabis bannking reform passage during this lame duck session. At a leadership briefing last week Murray said, “we are not done yet,” and added that they could still advance safe banking before the next congressional term. Comments are closed.
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