Senate Introduces Bill To Shield Insurers Covering Cannabis Businesses
- Two Senators, Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Rubén Marinelarena Gallego (D-AZ), introduced the bipartisan CLAIM Act to protect insurance companies covering legal cannabis businesses from federal prosecution.
- The CLAIM Act aims to provide a safe harbor for insurers by allowing them to comply with federal regulations despite cannabis being federally illegal.
- Cannabis businesses currently face challenges accessing insurance markets, in addition to being barred from traditional financial institutions.
- The bill seeks to ensure that marijuana-related businesses have the same access to insurance coverage as other industries without fear of federal legal consequences.
Two Senators have introduced a bipartisan bill that would provide a safe harbor for insurance companies that cover legal cannabis businesses, as insurers fear federal prosecution due to the federal illegality of the substance.
Kevin Cramer, Republican Senator for North Dakota, and Rubén Marinelarena Gallego, Democratic Senator for Arizona, introduced last week the Clarifying Law Around Insurance of Marijuana (CLAIM) Act, a bill to protect insurance companies from covering cannabis-related businesses.
The bill would allow insurance companies to comply with federal regulations even if cannabis is still illegal at the federal level.
As well as being barred from using traditional financial institutions, cannabis businesses also struggle to access the insurance markets.
“The CLAIM Act makes sure insurers can offer their commercial products to regulated marijuana-related businesses without fear of federal prosecution,” Cramer said in a statement, and that cannabis businesses can “have the same access to insurance coverage as any other business,” added Gallego.
Read the full article at Forbes