Group representing state legislatures supports banking for cannabis businesses
by CORY SMITH | The National DeskTue, September 26th 2023, 3:23 PM EDT
(TND) — The National Conference of State Legislatures is throwing its support behind the latest bill aimed at giving legal cannabis businesses access to traditional banking services.
The Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act has bipartisan support and is set for Senate committee markup Wednesday.
Supporters say this bill will ensure state-sanctioned cannabis businesses have access to deposit accounts, insurance and other financial services.
Marijuana remains illegal under federal law, so cannabis businesses operate on cash sales because banks are exposed to legal and regulatory risks if they take them on as customers.
The American Bankers Association says there’s a “rift between federal and state law” and that has “left banks trapped between their mission to serve the financial needs of their local communities and the threat of federal enforcement action.
“While ABA takes no position on the moral issues raised by legalizing marijuana, the growing number of states that allow its sale and use raises practical issues that must be addressed,” the ABA says.
NCSL CEO Tim Storey sent a letter to congressional leaders on behalf of states in support of the SAFER Banking Act.
“The inability of legal cannabis businesses to receive financial services from the federal banking system creates an unsafe and untenable position for these legal entities,” reads the letter.
Forty-seven states and the District of Columbia have passed some sort of cannabis legalization, according to the NCSL.
The SAFER Banking Act is sponsored by Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon and is an update to a version he sponsored earlier this session.
