PIA says SAFE Act passage will be one focus of 2022
The SAFE Act would protect financial and insurance institutions from criminal liability when working with legal, cannabis-related entities.
The National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA) has released their Issues of Focus for 2022, and among them is something that has been stuck in limbo for quite a while: Cannabis safe harbor protections for insurers.
According to a release, while they are concerned with respecting state insurance laws, PIA supports this legislation as a way to protect independent insurance agents from criminal liability when they do business with legal, cannabis-related companies. Cannabis laws vary state-by-state, and it remains illegal federally, which can leave carriers exposed when insuring these clients.
In September 2019, parts of the Clarifying Law Around Insurance of Marijuana (CLAIM) Act, which PIA helped develop to protect agents, brokers and carriers, were absorbed into the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act. The SAFE Act was originally designed to shield bankers from legal liability when providing services to a cannabis-related entity, but was reintroduced in 2021 with insurance protections from the CLAIM Act.
The SAFE Banking Act passed twice in 2021; most recently in September 2021 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). In December 2021, however, PIA reported on their blog that, despite bipartisan support, the U.S. Senate would not allow the SAFE Banking Act to remain in the final defense bill.
According to their release, PIA says they will continue to advocate for the passage of this legislation throughout 2022.
You can view PIA’s full 2022 Issues of Focus release on their blog, piaadvocacy.com.