One week before the Senate’s key committee votes on the bill, a revised bipartisan marijuana bank bill was officially filed.
Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-OR and Steve Daines, R-MT were introduced to the Senate on Wednesday. This was one day after Marijuana Moment reported on the finalized language.
The bill was amended after months of negotiation to get bipartisan support and passable legislation. is set to receive a Markup in the Senate Banking Committee September 27. Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer (DNY) announced on Tuesday that he would “bring the matter to the floor as soon as possible.”
Schumer, Merkley and Sens. Daines, Daines, Daines, Daines, Daines, Daines, Daines, Daines, Daines, Daines, Daines. Kyrsten Simma (I-AZ), Cynthia Lummis, (R-WY), and Sens.
The senators stated that “this legislation will help to make our communities safer and smaller businesses more secure by giving legal cannabis companies access to traditional financial institution, including bank account and small business loan,” It also prevents federal regulators from ordering banks or credit unions to close accounts based on reputational risks.
They said, “We are looking forward to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs marking up this bill on September 27th.”
BREAKING:
The Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulations (SAFER) Banking Act is now available.
This will make our communities safer and help small businesses by giving them access to traditional financial services. pic.twitter.com/7SEiJEu9nV
Chuck Schumer 20 September 2023
The bill has also been co-sponsored by Sens. Kevin Cramer, Cory Booker, Dan Sullivan and Bob Menendez are all Republicans.
Booker’s co-sponsorship of the bill is particularly notable, given that he has previously refused to take the incremental reform step that focuses on financial reform before moving forward with comprehensive legalization which helps correct the wrongs caused by the drug war. promised to “lay down” himself to stop the cannabis banking bill when it was first considered in 2021.
The newly released bill shows what compromises the senators made in recent weeks. The majority of the new provisions can be found in Section 10, a part of the reform which Republicans strongly favor and some Democrats oppose because they fear it will undermine banking regulations.
Below are a few of the most important changes to the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act (SAFE Banking Act):
- The SAFER Banking Act, Section 7, removes the earlier language that prevented federal regulators from “discourage” financial institutions to work with state-legal cannabis businesses.
- The bill’s Section 10 now explains that regulators need to have a valid reason before they can request or require the closure of a bank account for a business.
- The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was given an extra year to prepare guidance for financial institutions that serve state-licensed cannabis businesses.
- This standard now applies to “covered” mortgages. One example of a covered mortgage would be one “purchased or acquired by a Federal Home Loan Bank, or pledged as security for an advance from the Federal Home Loan Bank”.
- The section 10 was expanded to include, for instance, a “sense” of Congress language that stipulates that personal and political beliefs should not affect the decision-making of financial regulators.
- The legislation would newly require federal banking regulators to work with state banking supervisors and the secretaries of commerce and treasury and, within two years of enactment, form rules or guidance to increase access to deposit accounts for businesses and customers and to enable banks and credit unions to more effectively maintain customer relationships–especially for those in rural, low-and moderate-income areas, Tribal communities and unbanked businesses and consumers.
- The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is now required to carry out a survey and produce a report every two years to identify the barriers that small and medium-sized business face in accessing their deposit accounts.
- The bill was also revised so that tribal communities are explicitly mentioned in Section 11. This section requires federal regulators submit a report on access to banking to Congress for historically underbanked community. The report now includes tribes alongside minorities, veterans and women, as well as small state-sanctioned marijuana businesses. This was not the case when the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act (SAFE Banking Act) was introduced.
- The bill still requires reports to be submitted on small, minority, veteran and women-owned business. However, “diversity” and “inclusion” have been removed from section titles.
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The proposed revisions appear to satisfy both sides, as Section 10 is kept “intact,” according to Banking Committee member Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-ND, who said this week. However, there are also new provisions that promote equity in financial system.
Jack Reed, a senator from Rhode Island who is also a member of the Banking Committee, and has previously expressed concern about Section 10 in the Banking Act, said that the Senate had “discussed extensively” the language.
He said, “I believe we’ve solved most of the issues that we had. I hope we did so that we can pass it with a solid vote from the committee.”
Schumer, along with others, have discussed plans to amend legislation currently on the floor in order to adopt “critical” criminal justice provisions, such as expungements of prior marijuana convictions. They also called for a broader effort to repair harms caused by the drug war to be a “moral responsibility” for Congress.
Daines’ spokesperson told Marijuana Moment that the senator is “open” about including the additional reform provision. However, he warned Democrats not to expand the bill’s scope significantly in a manner that would jeopardize GOP backing. Insiders claim that the bill, in its current form and as a stand-alone measure, has the Republican support needed to pass the Senate.
A coalition of 35 cannabis associations, drug policy reform organizations and a leading national labor union on Tuesday called for Congress to address “the humanitarian toll” of robberies that target cash-intensive marijuana businesses, by passing the SAFE Banking Act this year.
In July, the American Trade Association for Cannabis and Hemp, along with other trade groups representing marijuana business in 16 states and Washington, D.C., sent a letter to Brown and Banking Committee ranking member Tim Scott (R-SC), imploring them to pass the cannabis banking legislation “without further delay.”
The American Bankers Association (ABA), too, reiterated its call for passage. All 50 state chapters of the ABA did the same. Insurance and union organizations also wrote to Congress.
also celebrated its 10-year anniversary in July, since the introduction the first version of the SAFE Banking Act.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, said separately in a letter sent to President Joe Biden recently that he should support the congressional push for marijuana bank reform at the same time the Drug Enforcement Administration begins its review of the cannabis schedule after receiving a rescheduling recommendations from the top federal agency.
Congressional Lawmakers file new bill to protect states that legalize psilocybin from federal intervention
Photo by Mike Latimer.
The article Bipartisan Senates Officially File Revised Marijuana Banking Act Ahead of Key Committee Vote first appeared on Marijuana Moment.
