U.S. Senate Committee Approves Bipartisan Marijuana Banking Bill, Sending It To The Floor
Published 1 hour ago on September 27, 2023By Kyle Jaeger
The Senate Banking Committee has approved a bipartisan marijuana banking bill with amendments, sending it to the floor.
On Wednesday, members voted to pass the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act, sponsored by Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Steve Daines (R-MT), in a 14-9 vote. This comes one week after it was filed with revisions that were meant to bolster its bipartisan buy-in.
“It’s been quite a journey,” Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-OH) said at the beginning of the meeting. “Regardless about how you feel about states’ efforts to legalize marijuana, this bipartisan bill is necessary. It will make it safer for legal cannabis businesses and service providers to operate, to protect their workers first and foremost and to operate in their communities.”
Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), the lead GOP sponsor of the SAFER Banking Act, emphasized that he does not view the legislation as a step toward legalization, which he opposes. But “the current all cash model of legal cannabis businesses makes him targets for theft, for tax evasion and for organized crime,” he said.
“The key to addressing this risk is by ensuring that all legal businesses have access to the banking system,” Daines said.
The committee adopted an amendment from Brown making technical, clean-up changes that are considered non-controversial.
Members were expected to consider multiple additional amendments on issues such as cannabis industry access to stock exchanges, banking regulations aimed at preventing discriminatory enforcement, broad justice-focused marijuana reform and more. However, those did not come up.
