Congressional lawmakers recently voted on a bill to grant cannabis companies access to the federal banking system. Should it pass the Senate, the SAFE Banking Act will finally allow the industry to thrive in a safe and regulated manner, alleviating America’s overly-crowded criminal justice system in the process.

The vote total in the House is an incredibly positive sign for the bill’s chances in the Republican controlled Senate, in that 91 House Republicans supported the measure on the same day House Democrats launched an impeachment inquiry against President Trump.

Given that 33 senators have already signed on as co-sponsors, I am confident the legislation will be signed by Trump this year. It will be an incredible triumph for cannabis users and decriminalization activists.

More importantly, the passage of the SAFE Banking Act would signal the true shift in federal cannabis policy from willful blindness to active advancement of long overdue federal policy reforms that will bring this budding and profitable “made in America” industry into the banking system. It will serve as springboard for broader measures like the STATES Act to be heard and advanced in both chambers in 2020.

The issue has required some unconventional alliances. Last fall, I discussed the benefits of hemp farming with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, making sure to touch on how the flower economically benefits Kentucky and other Tobacco Belt states. McConnell later emerged as an ally of the cannabis industry when he added a provision in the FARM Act bill recognizing hemp and hemp-derived CBD (neither of which causes a high) as an agricultural commodity that was expressly exempted from Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act.

Last week, McConnell took his support one step further by urging the FDA to ease restrictions on CBD-infused products within 120 days.

Despite this crucial first step, the cannabis industry still has major hurdles to clear, the thorniest of which the SAFE Banking Act looks to tackle: How to legalize above-the-table financial transactions. Several months later, I met with the staff of presidential candidate Cory Booker, who is a longtime advocate for legalizing marijuana, about the legislation. Like McConnell, Booker recognizes the value the cannabis industry has for the U.S. economy, especially given how the flower is grown domestically and could weather the trade war with China and serve as an engine for growth once the industry has access to traditional banking.

One need look no further than one of the founding states of the cannabis movement, Colorado, where a cannabis tax took the state’s budget from a large deficit to a surplus. Cannabis tax dollars were used to build parks, schools and other public improvements.

Yet for now, all of the investment capital that fuels the cannabis marketplace, from institutional and retail investors alike, flows right out of the United States to Bay Street in Toronto. Even after the SAFE Banking Act opens up retail banking and lending, we will have work left to be done relative to shifting capital markets transactions back to Wall Street.

Every leading Democratic presidential contender supports medicinal cannabis use, and many Republicans have long recognized the legitimacy and value of medical cannabis for their constituents, for the economy, and most often for a hallmark principle of the GOP, the preservation of state powers.

As the historic vote in the house this past Wednesday demonstrated, cannabis policy has transcended partisan politics, and with cannabis related constitutional amendments on the 2020 ballot in key electoral college swing states, cannabis policy reform is now a tier one issue for both parties, which is where it has belonged since the movement began. According to a Pew Research Center poll conducted last fall, 6 out of 10 Americans support fully legalizing cannabis, which is roughly twice as many as in 2003, and 93% support it for medicinal purposes.

Lawmakers have returned to Congress with an important decision before them with the potential to provide thousands of Americans necessary medical treatment while further puffing up the economy. Hopefully, they won’t pass in making the right decision.

Brady Cobb is partner at the Cobb Eddy law firm and CEO of SOL Global and a longtime advocate for medical cannabis use.