California Governor Approves Changes to Marijuana Banking and Labelling Laws

California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) signed several marijuana bills on Tuesday, making a series of different regulations to the legal cannabis system.

Among the biggest changes are amendments to the laws on banks and advertising. While most of the legal marijuana & CBD companies still don’t have access to financial services, Newsom approved a new bill (AB 1525) to abolish government fines against banks that do business with cannabis users.

“This law will expand the procuring of financial help and services for the legal industry of cannabis, and for that reason I support it.” In a signed bank statement, Newsom directed state regulators to establish rules created to defend the security of marijuana businesses that seek financial help, and claimed that information of the companies will be fully confidential and used only “to provide financial services to support licensees.”

Another bill (SB 67), signed by the governor on Tuesday, will finally establish a cannabis appellation program created to specify where marijuana is grown and how that might affect its nature. The system is similar to how wine regions are regulated. Using the new law, the manufacturers will be prohibited from using the name of a city or other specified region in product marketing, unless all the cannabis of that product is grown in that region. Similar protections are already working at the county level.