Alabama became the 36th state to allow cannabis for medical use when Gov. Kay Ivey signed into law the Darren Wesley ‘Ato’ Hall Compassion Act on May 17, 2021. The act establishes a process through which applicants will...more
7/29/2021
/ Agribusiness ,
Alabama ,
Applicants ,
Applications ,
Cannabis-Related Businesses (CRBs) ,
Dispensaries ,
Governor Ivey ,
Licenses ,
Licensing Rules ,
Marijuana ,
Marijuana Cultivation ,
Marijuana Related Businesses ,
Medical Marijuana ,
Required Documentation ,
State and Local Government
In a bid to avoid a wave of COVID-19-related foreclosures, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published Mortgagee Letter 2021-18 to lenders and servicers on July 23, 2021, that will allow borrowers with...more
Roughly three months ago, President Biden signed an executive order that, among other things, directed HUD to reevaluate earlier agency decisions perceived to weaken the Fair Housing Act. In response to this directive, HUD...more
We recently wrote that Alabama is on the cusp of enacting a medical cannabis program. Today we turn our focus to a key aspect of the current proposal – the requirement that applicants for limited cultivator and integrated...more
On December 15, 2020, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law a bill that, among other things, requires reverse mortgage lenders in the state to notify the state’s Department of Financial Services (DFS) and mortgagors...more
This is the second article in a three-part series focused on the intersection of the 2020 United States presidential election and marijuana policy. Each article will focus on the specific presidential candidates of the two...more
This is the first article in a three-part series focused on the intersection of the 2020 presidential election and cannabis policy in the United States. Each article will focus on the specific presidential candidates of the...more
...On June 29, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued guidance (the “June guidance”) to “address questions related to Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) regulatory requirements” for providing...more
In an All Participants Memo dated April 10, 2020 (APM 20-03), Ginnie Mae announced that it revised and expanded its issuer assistance programs in Chapter 34 of the Mortgage Backed Securities Guide (MBS Guide) to include a...more
During a COVID-19 press briefing at the White House on March 18, 2020, President Donald Trump announced that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will temporarily suspend “all foreclosures and evictions.” The...more
On December 3, several federal agencies issued guidance (Guidance) that, by its terms, “provide[s] clarity” regarding “the regulatory requirements under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) for banks providing services to hemp-related...more
12/6/2019
/ Agricultural Sector ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Banking Sector ,
Due Diligence ,
Farm Bill ,
FDIC ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
Hemp ,
New Guidance ,
OCC ,
Regulatory Agencies ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) ,
U.S. Treasury
After 10 months of anticipation from the American hemp industry, on October 31, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) published its interim final rule (Rule) establishing the regulatory framework for hemp...more
11/5/2019
/ Agricultural Sector ,
Cannabis-Related Businesses (CRBs) ,
Controlled Substances Act ,
DEA ,
Farm Bill ,
Hemp ,
Interim Final Rules (IFR) ,
Interstate Commerce ,
Marijuana ,
Marijuana Cultivation ,
Tribal Governments ,
USDA
In an effort to provide clarity and certainty to Federal Housing Administration (FHA) approved lenders, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) jointly issued a...more
The Alabama Medical Cannabis Study Commission held its third meeting in Montgomery on October 3. The majority of the meeting centered around two presentations. The first presenter, Curt Harper, a toxicologist from the Alabama...more
The U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing, Community Development, and Insurance convened a hearing on September 25, 2019, to discuss the federal Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM)...more
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) published two reports on September 25 identifying several weaknesses in the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) oversight of reverse mortgages made under the Home Equity...more
The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued Mortgagee Letter 2019-15, in which it announced several modifications to the Mortgagee Optional Election (MOE) Assignment claim process for Home...more
In December 2018, Congress gave the hemp industry a significant boost by passing the 2018 Farm Bill, which legalized the cultivation and sale of hemp (i.e., cannabis with a THC content of less than .3%). The 2018 Farm Bill...more
9/10/2019
/ BSA/AML ,
Credit Unions ,
Due Diligence ,
Farm Bill ,
Hemp ,
Know Your Customers ,
Marijuana Related Businesses ,
NCUA ,
Regulatory Standards ,
SAR ,
USDA
After a nearly three-year delay, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has finally released an update to its FHA condominium rules. The new rules, which take effect October 15, 2019, allow for FHA...more
The Alabama Medical Cannabis Study Commission held its first meeting in Montgomery on August 13. The commission, formed in the last days of the 2019 legislative session, is composed of 15 individuals appointed by various...more
Legislation that would open financial services to marijuana-related businesses operating in states that have legalized marijuana took another small, but important, step Tuesday. The Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Senate...more
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has offered much-needed clarity about the manufacture, distribution and sale of hemp and hemp-derived products. The USDA’s recent pronouncement, however, may not be the news...more
6/4/2019
/ Cannabidiol (CBD) oil ,
Cannabis Products ,
Controlled Substances ,
Criminal Convictions ,
Decriminalization of Marijuana ,
Dispensaries ,
Farm Bill ,
Felonies ,
Hemp ,
Interstate Commerce ,
Marijuana Cultivation ,
Marijuana Related Businesses ,
Schedule I Drugs ,
Shipping ,
Transportation Industry ,
USDA
Since more than half of the states in the U.S. have decriminalized marijuana (those varieties of the Cannabis plant with intoxicating properties), the marijuana business has been growing rapidly in this country. Like any...more
[This is the first in a series of client alerts regarding the status of medical marijuana efforts in Alabama.]
Is Alabama poised to join the growing number of states allowing the use of medical marijuana under state law?...more
Centuries after American colonists were required by law to grow hemp, and decades after it was then outlawed by Congress, one of the nation’s oldest and most versatile crops is poised for a resurgence. The 2018 Farm Bill,...more
2/25/2019
/ Agricultural Sector ,
Cannabidiol (CBD) oil ,
Controlled Substances Act ,
Decriminalization of Marijuana ,
Department of Agriculture ,
Farm Bill ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Hemp ,
Investors ,
Marijuana ,
Marijuana Cultivation ,
Marijuana Related Businesses ,
Medical Marijuana ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Research and Development