Letter to Jerome Powell, Chairman of Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Joseph Otting, Comptroller of the Currency in US Department of the Treasury, Jeffery Hall, Acting CEO of Farm Credit Administration, Jelena McWilliams, Chairman of Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Rodney Hood, Chairman of National Credit Union Administration - Bennet Urges Financial Regulators to Provide Guidance, Certainty for Hemp Farmers and Processor

Letter

Dear Chairs Powell, McWilliams, Hood, Acting CEO Hall, and Comptroller Otting:

I write to request that you work expeditiously to provide guidance to financial institutions on serving the hemp industry so that producers can obtain access to the banking system.

As you know, the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 (P.L. 115-334) (hereinafter, "the 2018 Farm Bill") removed hemp from the definition of marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act, excluding it as a Schedule 1 drug. Accordingly, the 2018 Farm Bill allows individuals to farm, process, and sell hemp so long as they are doing it in a manner consistent with the 2018 law. The 2018 Farm Bill also creates a regulatory program under the Department of Agriculture.

Hemp cultivation and processing is already working to support rural communities across the country. Forty-five states have enacted hemp laws and producers are currently growing it in twenty-three states. In my home state of Colorado, farmers cultivated hemp on over 21,000 acres of land last year. Nonetheless, farmers and processors generally continue to lack access to the banking system even though hemp is no longer a Schedule 1 drug.

It is my hope that your agencies can work expeditiously and in a coordinated manner to issue guidance describing how financial institutions can offer financial products and services to hemp farmers and processors. Access to the banking system will provide certainty and much needed clarity for our nation's hemp farmers and related businesses. In addition, greater access to the banking system will make it easier for the USDA to regulate the commodity and conduct oversight of the program.

If you would like to discuss this further, please don't hesitate to follow up with me. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Michael F. Bennet

United States Senator

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