Safe Banking vote should come in 2 weeks

Investors who have been enduring the volatile nature of the industry's stock performance know better than most that without banking, cannabis cannot reach it's full business potential. 

That's why when Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said that Congress wouldn't be debating the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act before the summer recess in August, stocks took a big tumble. 

Related: Cannabis stocks get boost from good news out of the Biden administration

In the past, Schumer has pushed to include the SAFE Banking Act, which would free up large banking institutions to provide industry players with much-needed loans and other banking services, into a larger funding packages in order to get it passed to no avail. 

Now, Schumer is taking another bite out of the apple as the Senate Banking Committee is planning to vote on a bipartisan marijuana banking bill during the last week of September, according to a report from Marijuana Moment. 

September 27 is seen as a tentative date for the vote, but it has not been officially announced and may change, according to the report. 

The bill has undergone weeks of negotiations, so it will be different than previous iterations of the bill that have been made public. 

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The SAFE Banking Act could save the fledgling U.S. cannabis industry from being crushed by the hard ceiling of lack of banking access as it grows larger. 

Earlier this year, Mastercard told financial institutions to stop allowing marijuana transactions on its debit cards, Reuters reported, due to the fact that cannabis is still illegal at the federal level despite the fact that twenty-three states and the District of Columbia have legalized the drug.

"The federal government considers cannabis sales illegal, so these purchases are not allowed on our systems," the company said in a statement. 

Under current rules, financial institutions that provide services to legal cannabis businesses face strict regulatory and reporting requirements.

Senate Democrats have been pushing the SAFE Banking Act in Congress, but the legislation that would grant the cannabis industry access to banking services has been stalled by Republican opposition.

While the Senate has been obstinate, the SAFE Banking Act passed the House of Representatives multiple times, proving that there is political appetite to make a change. 

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