skip to main content
Hide All The Ads With a Yearly Membership Subscribe ▶

H.R. 6602 (116th): Emergency Cannabis Small Business Health and Safety Act

React to this bill with an emoji

(About Ads | Hide These Ads)

The text of the bill below is as of Apr 23, 2020 (Introduced). The bill was not enacted into law.

Summary of this bill

Should the state-legal businesses be eligible for federal loans, if they’re technically illegal under federal law?

Context

Eleven states plus the District of Columbia have legalized recreational marijuana. Yet while marijuana businesses and companies are now thriving on a state level there, the drug remains illegal on a federal level.

This legal grey area can create challenges. For example, most banks are unwilling to work with marijuana businesses, fearing potential reprisals.

In the past month, it also means state-legal marijuana businesses were among the few categories excluded from government loans issued during the covid-19 pandemic, including the recent $2 trillion CARES Act and its subsidiary Paycheck Protection Program …

I

116th CONGRESS

2d Session

H. R. 6602

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

April 23, 2020

(for himself, Mr. Perlmutter, Mr. Crow, Ms. Lee of California, Mr. DeFazio, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Tlaib, Mr. Young, Ms. Norton, Mr. Neguse, Ms. Haaland, Ms. DeGette, Mr. Huffman, Ms. DelBene, Ms. Porter, Ms. Jayapal, and Ms. Gabbard) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Small Business

A BILL

To provide assistance under programs relating to COVID–19 of the Small Business Administration to cannabis businesses and their service providers, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Emergency Cannabis Small Business Health and Safety Act.

2.

Eligibility for the paycheck protection program

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a business shall not be ineligible for assistance under section 7(a)(36) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(a)(36)) on the basis that the business is a cannabis-related legitimate business or a service provider.

3.

Eligibility for economic injury disaster loans

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a business shall not be ineligible for assistance under section 7(b)(2) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)(2)) on the basis that the business is a cannabis-related legitimate business or a service provider.

4.

Eligibility for economic injury disaster loans emergency grants

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a business shall not be ineligible for emergency EIDL grants under section 1110 of the CARES Act (Public Law 116–136) on the basis that the business is a cannabis-related legitimate business or service provider.

5.

Rule for the small business administration and its employees

With respect to providing a loan, emergency advance, or loan guarantee to a cannabis-related legitimate business or service provider within a State, political subdivision of a State, or Indian country that allows the cultivation, production, manufacture, sale, transportation, display, dispensing, distribution, or purchase of cannabis pursuant to a law or regulation of such State, political subdivision, or Indian Tribe that has jurisdiction over the Indian country, as applicable, the Small Business Administration and the officers, directors, and employees of the Small Business Administration, may not be held liable pursuant to any Federal law or regulation solely for providing a loan or a loan guarantee to a cannabis-related legitimate business or a service provider in carrying out the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (Public Law 116–127) or the CARES Act (Public Law 116–136).

6.

Definitions

In this Act:

(1)

Cannabis

The term cannabis has the meaning given the term marihuana in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802).

(2)

Cannabis product

The term cannabis product means any article which contains cannabis, including an article which is a concentrate, an edible, a tincture, a cannabis-infused product, or a topical.

(3)

Cannabis-related legitimate business

The term cannabis-related legitimate business means a manufacturer, producer, or any person that—

(A)

engages in any activity described in subparagraph (B) pursuant to a law established by a State or a political subdivision of a State, as determined by such State or political subdivision; and

(B)

participates in any business or organized activity that involves handling cannabis or cannabis products, including cultivating, producing, manufacturing, selling, transporting, displaying, dispensing, distributing, or purchasing cannabis or cannabis products.

(4)

Indian country

The term Indian country has the meaning given that term in section 1151 of title 18, United States Code.

(5)

Indian Tribe

The term Indian Tribe has the meaning given that term in section 102 of the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 479a).

(6)

Manufacturer

The term manufacturer means a person who manufactures, compounds, converts, processes, prepares, or packages cannabis or cannabis products.

(7)

Producer

The term producer means a person who plants, cultivates, harvests, or in any way facilitates the natural growth of cannabis.

(8)

Service provider

The term service provider—

(A)

means a business, organization, or other person that—

(i)

sells goods or services to a cannabis-related legitimate business; or

(ii)

provides any business services, including the sale or lease of real or any other property, legal or other licensed services, or any other ancillary service, relating to cannabis; and

(B)

does not include a business, organization, or other person that participates in any business or organized activity that involves handling cannabis or cannabis products, including cultivating, producing, manufacturing, selling, transporting, displaying, dispensing, distributing, or purchasing cannabis or cannabis products.

(9)

State

The term State means each of the several States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and any territory or possession of the United States.