Eight U.S. senators are urging committee leadership to extend access to federal Small Business Administration (SBA) programs and services to the state-legal marijuana industry.
Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) led a letter to the chair and ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government (FSGG), asking that they include language in future spending legislation that enables SBA access for cannabis businesses.
The letter specifically asks appropriators to prohibit SBA from denying applications for four loan programs for “legally operating cannabis small businesses in states that have legalized cannabis sale and use.”
Further, the lawmakers requested that committee leaders “include bill language prohibiting SBA from excluding such state-legal cannabis businesses from participating in or benefiting from SBA’s entrepreneurial development programs.”
Rosen led a similar letter last year, though the requested language was not ultimately adopted as part of the Fiscal Year 2023 final appropriations package for FSGG. Senators are hoping for a different result for FY 2024 this session.
The letter, which was sent in late March and highlighted in a press release from Rosen’s office last week, was also signed by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Ed Markey (D-MA), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Alex Padilla
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