U.S. Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Steve Daines (R-MT) joined U.S. Reps. Dave Joyce (R-OH) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) to introduce the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act of 2023.
Bill proponents indicated the legislation, co-sponsored by 38 of Merkley and Daines Senate colleagues and eight of Joyce and Blumenauer’s House of Representatives colleagues, would ensure that legal cannabis businesses would have access to banking and financial services.
“Forcing legal businesses to operate in all-cash is dangerous for our communities; it’s an open invitation to robbery, money laundering, and organized crime—and it’s way past time to fix it,” Merkley said. “For the first time, we have a path for SAFE Banking to move through the Senate Banking Committee and get a vote on the floor of the Senate. Let’s make 2023 the year that we get this bill signed into law so we can ensure that all legal cannabis businesses have access to the financial services they need to help keep their employees, their businesses, and their communities safe.”
Legislation provisions, per proponents, include preventing federal banking regulators from prohibiting, penalizing, or discouraging a bank from providing financial services to a legitimate state-sanctioned and regulated cannabis business or an associated business; terminating or limiting a bank’s federal deposit insurance primarily because the bank is providing services to a state-sanctioned cannabis business or associated business; and recommending or incentivizing a bank to halt or downgrade providing any kind of banking services to those businesses.
“Montanans should be able to conduct their small business without fearing for their safety,” Daines said. “My bipartisan bill would provide the security and peace of mind that legal Montana cannabis businesses need to freely use banks, credit unions, and other financial products without a fear of punishment.”