U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) has led a group of her colleagues to submit a letter to a Senate Appropriations subcommittee requesting that cannabis businesses gain access to Small Business Administration (SBA) loans. The letter, dated June 22, is addressed to Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government. Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Bernie Sanders (D-VT), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Cory Booker, (D-NJ), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Ed Markey (D-MA), Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Raphael Warnock (D-GA) cosigned the letter, which asks that businesses legally operating in states with regulated cannabis markets receive access to the 7(a) Loan Guarantee Program, Disaster Assistance Program, Microloan Program, and 504/Certified Development Company Loan Program. Rosen and her colleagues ask the Senate Appropriations Committee to include language in the 2022 Financial Services and General Government Related Agencies Appropriations Bill that would grant cannabis businesses access to these SBA loans, which remain off-limits to the cannabis industry.
Cannabis Business Times, 07/13/2021 13:52:00