H.R. 7987 — CLIMB Act

This section prohibits a Federal agency from taking any adverse action against a person solely because the person provides business assistance to a cannabis-related legitimate business or service provider. Business assistance includes (1) providing a financial product or service (as defined in 12 U.S.C. 5481); (2) selling insurance or surety products; (3) providing debt or equity capital or receiving related returns; (4) providing accounting services; (5) selling, leasing, or renting real estate; (6) providing equipment, parts, substances, or testing services for state-compliant cannabis production; (7) providing advertising or marketing services; (8) providing management consulting services; (9) providing legal or compliance services; (10) providing information technology, software, or communications services; (11) providing packaging, transportation, or logistics services; and (12) underwriting, dealing, placement, public distribution, listing, or related services for securities issued by such businesses. The section defines other terms by reference to section 6(m)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (e.g., cannabis, cannabis-related legitimate business, service provider).

This section establishes a safe harbor under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 permitting national securities exchanges and market participants (i.e., brokers, dealers, underwriters, clearing agencies, securities depositories, credit rating agencies, alternative trading systems, investment advisers, self-regulatory organizations, and transfer agents) to list, trade, or facilitate the offering, listing, or trading of securities issued by cannabis-related legitimate businesses or service providers, notwithstanding penalties under the Exchange Act, the Controlled Substances Act, or other federal law. Cannabis-related legitimate businesses are issuers engaged in state- or tribal-legal cannabis activities (i.e., cultivating, producing, selling, transporting, or similar with respect to cannabis or cannabis products); service providers are non-cannabis issuers that sell goods or services to such businesses (e.g., legal, accounting, real estate, or logistics services). (Thus, this provision enables public trading of securities for state-compliant cannabis companies and ancillary providers on registered exchanges, which has been limited due to federal cannabis prohibition.)