https://krcrtv.com/north-coast-news/eureka-local-news/senators-demand-access-to-emergency-loans-grants-for-legal-small-cannabis-businesses
WASHINGTON D.C. — U.S. Sen. Kamala D. Harris and nine other senators sent a letter to Congressional leadership Wednesday on behalf of state-legal cannabis small business and indirect cannabis small businesses, according to a press release.
In the letter, the senators called for forthcoming COVID-19 legislative relief packages to allow those businesses to access loan and emergency grant programs administered by the U.S. Small Business Administration, a press release said.
The press release said senators highlighted the failings of current regulations that exclude small businesses with “direct” or “indirect” products or services that aid the use, growth, enhancement or other development of cannabis from SBA-backed financing, including the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loans. These outdated regulations have left taxpaying, state-legal cannabis small businesses behind during this crisis, according to the press release.
“The cannabis industry supports more than 240,000 workers in the United States, spanning 33 states and the District of Columbia. Some of these jobs have already been lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic crisis, and there is significant risk of greater job loss in the coming months. Many cannabis businesses are small-to-medium size operators, and some have been ordered to close to comply with state public health safety measures without having access to the same support systems in place as other small businesses in different sectors,” senators said in the letter.
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“Given the nature of the global COVID-19 pandemic, we must ensure that every American small business has the capacity to protect the health and economic well being of their community and workforce. Therefore, we ask Senate Leadership to include in any future relief package provisions to allow state-legal cannabis small businesses and the small businesses who work with this industry to access the critical SBA support they need during these challenging and unprecedented times,” senators said.
Harris was joined in writing and signing this letter by Senators Jacky Rosen, Ron Wyden, Catherine Cortez Masto, Jeff Merkley, Kirsten Gillibrand, Bernie Sanders, Ed Markey, Elizabeth Warren and Michael Bennet.
