Sign Banking Form Mississippi Safe

Industry sign banking california agreement secure

for the average business owner in America getting a bank account to use for everyday business is a simple and straightforward process often taken for granted but for cannabis businesses in the 29 states with some form of legal marijuana it's not so simple and here's why the federal government still considers cannabis an illegal substance because of this status financial institutions that provide banking services to state legal cannabis businesses fear the possibility of criminal prosecution under federal money laundering laws banks that choose to do business with cannabis companies incur additional compliance costs including the monitoring of their customers activity this can become both costly and burdensome so financial institutions frequently deny banking services or even shut down existing bank accounts with cannabis businesses forcing them to operate entirely in cash running a cash-only business has some serious negative implications for example instead of enjoying the convenience of a paycheck or direct deposit employees might receive a stack of cash as their payment and vendors providing everything from electricity to cleaning supplies yep a stack of cash is payment and keeping all that cash on hand in the store isn't ideal so they'll need to take measures to keep it secure otherwise they risk becoming a target for thieves who love stacks of cash there was a tragic example of this in Colorado in 2016 when a security guard at a marijuana dispensary who was a US Marine veteran was shot and killed by two robbers overall it's simply not a good idea to have so much cash floating around cash attracts criminal activity creates a public safety issue for communities and creates headaches for state regulators tasked with tracking legal cannabis sales legal cannabis businesses are paying hundreds of millions of dollars in federal state and local taxes because of the outdated federal banking regulations these payments are frequently made in cash the departments of justice and Treasury issued in early 2014 regarding the conditions under which banks may work with the cannabis industry since that time some credit unions and regional banks have made limited financial services available to cannabis businesses but most federally insured banks still say no to banking with one of America's fastest growing industries so what's the solution legislation in both the United States House and Senate called the safe Banking Act would provide a safe harbor for financial institutions working with legal cannabis businesses removing the risk that banks would be slapped with federal sanctions when doing business with the legal cannabis industry there is strong support for this bill in Congress in fact one year after its introduction in 2017 the House bill had 90 co-sponsors more than 20% of all House members with a recent poll showing that 70% of Americans oppose federal interference in state marijuana laws it is clear the public wants these laws to succeed including safe access to banking how can you help help us grow even more support for the safe banking act in Congress contact your members of Congress and urge them to support federal protections for financial institutions that work with the regulated cannabis industry for more information log on to