| After Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell squashed efforts to attach the SAFE Banking Act to the National Defense Authorization Act earlier this month, lawmakers turned their attention to including the cannabis banking reform legislation in the $1.7 trillion federal spending package. Unfortunately, the SAFE Banking Act, which would allow federally regulated financial institutions to work with state-legal cannabis businesses, was ultimately excluded from the end-of-year spending bill, garnering disappointment from industry stakeholders. “Perfection is the enemy of progress,” said Joe Davidson, who leads Qanvus, a provider of strategic management services for cannabis businesses. “If the cannabis industry is to survive and thrive, operators need access to reliable banking and lending solutions. While the SAFE Banking Act as written misses some important points to satisfy all sides, failure to provide legislation that allows banking only serves to foster organized crime and support the continuation of a black market and predatory lending—thereby breaking the law, costing jobs, hurting investors and destroying projections for much needed tax revenue.” “Despite strong bipartisan support in both the House and Senate, the SAFE Banking Act will not be addressed by the Senate before the end of 2022,” said Joshua Horn, partner and co-chair of the Cannabis Practice Group at Fox Rothschild LLP. “What had high hopes is now back to the drawing table. The issue as I see are two competing forces that doomed the law. One side wanted the law to be part of larger cannabis reform. Another view was that it should be part of another law. The result was no movement in the Senate. We can only hope that the next Senate will revisit this law and only pursue it as a standalone bill, which may make it more certain for passage and a correction of a fundamental problem (greater access to capital) for state-legal cannabis companies.” This means the fight for cannabis banking reform—as well as broader federal policy reform—is far from over in Congress. “While we are disappointed SAFE was not included, we are not discouraged,” said Gia Morón, president of Women Grow. “There is more work to do. We will continue to advocate for a banking system that will support small, equity-focused businesses. We will use this time to reset and begin our work again in the new year.” - Melissa Schiller, Senior Digital Editor | 