Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) reintroduced legislation last week to provide legitimate cannabis businesses with banking services access.
The Secure And Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act is presented amid Portland-area cannabis businesses and workers being targeted with violent robberies possibly linked to a system forcing cannabis businesses to deal almost exclusively in cash.
“Addressing the irrational, unfair, and unsafe denial of banking services to legal cannabis businesses is not just an economic issue, but an urgent public safety issue that will save lives and livelihoods,” Blumenauer, founder and co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, said. “In the past year, Portland’s cannabis shops were robbed, burglarized, or looted more than 100 times. During these violent attacks, cannabis workers have been threatened at gunpoint, zip-tied, and repeatedly targeted for simply doing their jobs. Tragically, we have already lost one Portland cannabis worker to this violence.”
Blumenauer maintains more people will be targeted if Congress does not address the lack of banking access, posing a danger to cannabis workers, businesses, and communities.
Lawmakers noted the measure would prohibit federal regulators from taking punitive measures against depository institutions providing banking services to legitimate cannabis-related businesses and ancillary businesses such as electricians, plumbers, and landlords providing services.
Additionally, the bill requires a Government Accountability Office (GAO) study and annual regulator reports to Congress to ensure equal access to credit while reducing barriers to marketplace entry for potential and existing minority- and women-owned cannabis-related businesses.