A big and long-awaited boost for cannabis – and those who offer financial products to cannabis businesses – now in the hands of Congress may not only help usher the industry through the coming pandemic-ridden economic slump, it could have an impact akin to putting the sector on steroids.

The leadership of the U.S. House has included wording from the SAFE Banking Act in the latest proposed coronavirus economic relief package. A House vote on the COVID-19 package, a relief bill with a potential $3 trillion price tag that is being met with considerable political headwind, is expected as early as Friday.

The proposed Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act, or the HEROES Act, includes more stimulus checks, moratoriums on evictions, pandemic pay for essential workers, and SAFE Banking provisions. The SAFE Banking bill had bipartisan momentum in the House until it stalled in committee last fall.

If the SAFE Banking language remains the relief bill, and that bill is passed, it will pave the way for several large commercial carriers to get right into the cannabis market, as well as reinvigorate reinsurance interest, enable much-needed banking services, and bring in more capital, said Ian Stewart, a partner in Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP.

“If it stays in there, it will put the cannabis industry on steroids,” Stewart said.

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As more states approve medical cannabis and legalize recreational cannabis, the amount of data proving that cannabis dispensaries increase local property values continues to pile up.

Numerous studies conducted by researchers, companies, and even real estate associations not only show that property values increase when dispensaries open nearby but also that property values jump when cannabis is legalized at the state level – long before legal retail dispensaries open.

Despite arguments to the contrary, the cannabis industry bolsters commercial and residential real estate investments. The numbers speak for themselves.

Here’s What the Data Says about Cannabis Dispensaries and Property Values

The Western Economic Association International published a study in its July 2019 Contemporary Economic Policy journal that found property values within a half-mile radius of a cannabis dispensary increase by 7.7%, and the value drops as the distance from the dispensary increases.

Also in 2019, the team at Clever Real Estate conducted a deep analysis of housing prices and the relationship between property values and cannabis dispensary locations. They discovered that between 2014 and 2019, cities which allow cannabis dispensaries (medical and/or recreational) experienced greater increases in home values than cities where cannabis is illegal. Clever Real Estate found that the effect brings up the entire city’s home values at a rate higher than the national average.

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On August 19, 2019, the National Credit Union Association (NCUA), a federal agency that regulates, charters, and supervises federal credit unions, released updated guidance on federally-backed credit unions working with hemp-based businesses. The guidelines clarify that credit unions are permitted to offer financial services, including loans, to businesses dealing in the realm of hemp or hemp-based products such as manufacturers, distributors, shippers and retailers, among others. This announcement comes shortly after reports of hemp-based businesses losing access to financial services and credit card processing in recent months.

For more visit Cannabis Business Executive

WASHINGTON — Unlike most recent congressional recesses, this past summer’s break has seen some key financial policy news as bank regulators finalized a pivotal rule rolling back the Volcker Rule.

But when lawmakers return from their late-summer break on Sept. 9, there are a host of other unresolved financial services issues facing them, including efforts to let bankers serve the marijuana industry to reforms of anti-money-laundering requirements.

Late last week, House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., outlined her panel’s priorities for the fall, including oversight of Trump-appointed banking regulators and reviewing Facebook’s proposed cryptocurrency. The committee will also consider solutions to increase access to homeownership, explore data privacy and the use of artificial intelligence in financial services and examine the state of minority depository institutions, among other things, Waters said in a press release.

It is unclear if Congress will be able advance any of these initiatives, with the 2020 presidential primaries fast approaching and the nation focused on more polarizing cultural issues. But the end of the August recess gives the industry a chance to continue engaging with lawmakers on legislative priorities.

After Democrats took control of the House, banks got their first hearing on a bill aimed at enabling the industry to serve marijuana businesses in the states where the substance is legal, without fear of repercussion from regulators.

The House Financial Services Committee passed the SAFE Banking Act, which would prohibit federal regulators to penalize firms that accepts insured deposits from state-approved cannabis businesses, in a 45-15 vote, with all of the committee’s Democrats joined by 11 Republicans in support of the legislation.

The Republican-controlled Senate has been viewed as an obstacle for cannabis banking, but the industry got a hearing in the Senate Banking Committee in July over the challenges for banks posed by the conflict between the federal ban on marijuana and state legalization efforts.

Though Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, was the only Republican to attend the hearing, the industry is optimistic that Congress will provide them clarity on whether they can serve state-approved cannabis businesses.

“We are very much focused on trying to get the bipartisan cannabis bill through the House,” said James Ballentine, executive vice president for political affairs and congressional relations at the American Bankers Association. “We were very supportive and interested in the Senate hearing that took place in July and certainly the questions that members asked demonstrated a lot of interest in this issue.” 

However, it will likely still be a challenge to get a Senate committee vote on any cannabis-related legislation as some Republicans are sitting out the debate until their primaries are over.

For more visit American Banker

By Javier Hasse • Contributor, Forbes Magazine –

As the cannabis industry grows, people and companies from other trades are rapidly migrating toward it. From Fortune 500 execs to former politicians, and from banks to beer makers, smart money seems to want a piece of the green rush.

However, it is not usual to hear that a cannabis-focused company is venturing outside of the cannabis arena. Yet, this is what CannaRegs, co-founded by Amanda Ostrowitz, former regulator at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, is about to do.

As Ostrowitz revealed exclusively today, Regs Technology – or RegsTech for short, the parent company to CannaRegs, which operates a data platform that provides comprehensive cannabis-related legal data, including rules and regulations from municipal, county, state and federal sources, just closed a $2 million funding round. Money will be used to expand the company’s services and features, as well as to take a leap outside the cannabis industry. The raise will be announced later on Tuesday.

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