California Senate Majority Leader Bob Hertzberg’s (D-Van Nuys) Bill 51 earned Assembly approval last Friday, and that means charter banks and credit unions that serve California cannabusiness are on the cusp of becoming a reality.
Cannabis Wire
- The new law would permit the Department of Business Oversight to license “cannabis depository institutions.” The institutions could take deposits as well as issue “special purpose” checks and redeem them as well. Account holders could compensate venders as well as pay state and local taxes and fees. Rent, too.
- If Bill 51 passes in the Assembly it goes back to the Senate, where it originated, for approval. Marked urgent, the bill would immediately take effect if, as expected, Gov. Newsom signs it into law.
- As the recent outbreak of dispensary robberies in Sacramento has shown, legal weed operators have targets on their backs and at least need to be seen as not awash in cash.
