Marijuana Businesses Could List On US Stock Exchanges Like Nasdaq And NYSE Under New Bipartisan Congressional Bill

Marijuana businesses would be able to list on national stock exchanges such
as Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under a bipartisan
congressional bill filed on Wednesday that would also more broadly shield
companies from being punished for providing financial, accounting,
insurance, advertising or other services to the cannabis industry.

Reps. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) and Troy Carter (D-LA) are again sponsoring
the Capital Lending and Investment for Marijuana Businesses (CLIMB) Act—a
piece of incremental cannabis reform that would resolve an issue that’s
long frustrated stakeholders and comes as a federal marijuana rescheduling
proposal remains pending.

The legislation is substantively the same as earlier versions of the CLIMB
Act filed in the 117th Congress, with certain technical formatting changes,
according to a discussion draft obtained by Marijuana Moment. The final
bill text has not yet been posted.

A central function of the bill is to free up cannabis industry access to
financial lending and investment opportunities, in part by providing
protections for private financial institutions and government agencies that
provide such services to traditional markets.

Another notable section would provide safe harbor for national securities
exchanges and market participants that “have listed, list, or intend to
list,” “permit the trading of” or “facilitate the offering, listing, or
trading” of such cannabis-related securities.

In other words, cannabis businesses would be permitted to list on major
stock exchanges, including Nasdaq and NYSE. That would represent a boon for
the industry, legitimizing their presence on Wall Street even as marijuana
remains federally illegal.

Overall, the legislation stipulates that federal agencies “may not take any
adverse action against a person solely because the person provides business
assistance to a cannabis-related legitimate business or service provider.”

*The full list of activities that people and businesses could offer to the
cannabis industry without being federally penalized includes:*

“providing a financial product or service; selling insurance or surety
products; providing debt or equity capital or receiving dividends,
interest, or distributions of that capital; providing accounting services;
the sale, lease, or rental of real estate; providing equipment, parts,
substances, or testing services needed to produce cannabis in compliance
with the laws and regulations in the applicable State; providing
advertising or marketing services; providing management consulting
services; providing legal services or compliance services; providing
information technology, software, or communications services; provision of
packaging, transportation, or other logistics services; and underwriting,
dealing, placement or public distribution of securities issued by a
cannabis-related legitimate business, including the listing of any such
securities on any exchange or trading venue, or any provision of services
related to the foregoing.”

This legislation takes a targeted approach to cannabis reform in the
financial and regulatory sector, whereas another bipartisan bill that
advocates and stakeholders have pushed for—the Secure and Fair Enforcement
Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act—would more broadly safeguard financial
institutions that work with marijuana businesses from being penalized by
federal regulators.

The SAFER Banking Act has not yet been refiled in the current 119th
Congress, however.

Stakeholders are also awaiting administrative action on a proposal to move
marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act
(CSA), which President Donald Trump in December directed the attorney
general to quickly finalize. That hasn’t happened yet, but if it does, one
effect would be allowing state-licensed cannabis businesses to take federal
tax deductions under Internal Revenue Service (IRS) code 280E.

The CLIMB Act, meanwhile, did not advance in its prior form after being
filed in 2022. It remains to be seen whether there will be sufficient
bipartisan interest in moving it this session. Some advocates have
previously voiced concerns about the idea of advancing reform that heavily
favors industry players while marijuana remains federally prohibited and
people are still experiencing the collateral consequences of
criminalization that the bipartisan bill doesn’t attempt to directly
address.

Meanwhile, another bipartisan bill that was recently filed in the House by
Reps. Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-FL) and Ryan Mackenzie (R-PA) would repeal
a decades-old federal statute that’s led to the denial of housing for
millions of people with prior drug convictions.

*Read the text of the CLIMB Act below:*

The post Marijuana Businesses Could List On US Stock Exchanges Like Nasdaq
And NYSE Under New Bipartisan Congressional Bill appeared first on Marijuana
Moment.