The US House of Representatives have selected Representative Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, to become the 56th Speaker of the House. This is bad news for federal marijuana reform.
In September a federal marijuana banking bill (the SAFER Banking Act – S.2860) passed the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs with bipartisan support, with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowing to put it to a vote of the full Senate “very soon”. The proposed law would provide legal protections for financial institutions, including banks and credit unions, that provide financial services to marijuana businesses that are legal under their state’s law.
The measure, which is sponsored by 32% of the entire US Senate, has the support of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) which recently sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell urging them to pass the bill into law, and a bipartisan group of 22 attorneys general sent a similar letter to congressional leaders late last month.
A recent report found that some major players have entered the conversation. Bank of America, Mastercard and the NRA have reported lobbying disclosures for the third quarter of 2023 in favor of the SAFER Banking Act.
According to polling released last week, “by greater than a 2-to-1 margin (55% support vs 23% oppose) U.S. adults support Congress passing legislation that allows cannabis businesses to access banking services.”
Despite all of this support, the SAFER Banking Act is in jeopardy, even if it does pass the full Senate with the 60 votes needed to send it to the House. This is because Speaker Mike Johnson is adamantly opposed to all forms of marijuana law reform. This includes Johnson voting against the then-titled SAFE Banking Act in both 2019, and 2021, and voting against the Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act that was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden late last year. Johnson has expressed no desire in recent years to change his opinions on the matter.
Given Johnson as speaker has the sole power to choose which bills are heard and not heard on the House floor, Johnson’s opposition to the bill may spell its doom (at least for now), and may result in it stalling in the House despite widespread bipartisan support in both chambers.
There is a possibility that Johnson could put his own personal views aside to give the measure a vote, if his caucus and the public calls for it, but whether he’d ever be willing to do so is uncertain.
For now, the measure must make its way through the full Senate before it can even be considered by the House.
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