• The California Senate approves legislation to create state-chartered cannabis banks to help the industry get around restrictions on access to banking services.
• Under the state legislation, private banks or credit unions can apply for a limited-purpose state charter so they can provide depository services to licensed cannabis businesses.
• Passage in the nation’s most populous state could add pressure on the U.S. Congress to federally legalize banking for the marijuana industry.
• “It’s hard to imagine an industry that at this point is as large as, like, craft beer that does not have banking as we have come to know it,” says Steve Hawkins, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project.

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