US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says that provisions allowing for marijuana expungements and providing gun rights to medical marijuana patients will be included in a marijuana banking bill that will be voted on “very soon“.
Shortly after the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs passed the SAFER Banking Act (S.2860), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer confirmed that he will swiftly give it a vote by the full Senate. The measure would provide federal legal protections for banks and other financial institutions that provide financial services to marijuana businesses that are legal under their state’s law.
Senator Schumer is also vowing to add two important provisions into the SAFER Banking Act. One is the Harnessing Opportunities by Pursuing Expungement (HOPE) Act, and the other is the GRAM Act.
The HOPE Act would provide financial incentives for states and localities that take action to expunge the records of those charged with nonviolent marijuana-related offenses.
The GRAM Act would give those who are qualified medical marijuana patients under their state’s law the explicit right to purchase and possess guns. This is a move that has been happening on the local level in states like Arkansas.
Senator Steve Daines, a Republican from Montana who is one of the lead sponsors of the SAFER Banking Act, is open to adding both provisions to the bill, according to a spokesperson for the senator.
