The SAFE Banking Act just gained its 100th sponsor in the United States House of Representatives.
Yesterday Congressmember Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM) joined 99 of her colleagues to serve as a cosponsor for the SAFE Banking Act. The measure would provide federal protections to banks and other financial services such as credit unions that provide services to marijuana businesses that are legal under their state’s law.
The SAFE Banking Act, which was filed in April with eight cosponsors, has strong bipartisan support, with 76 Democrat sponsors and 24 Republican sponsors.
An updated Senate version of the bill – the SAFER Banking Act – currently has 35 sponsors. In September it was passed through the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs with bipartisan support. Following the vote Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed to put the measure to a vote of the full Senate “very soon”, with him saying last month that the chamber was “getting close“.
According to polling released in October, “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.”
Recent federal disclosures show that in the final quarter of 2023, PayPal lobbied heavily in favor of the SAFE Banking Act.
For a look at the federal marijuana bills most likely to be passed by the US House and Senate this year, including the SAFER Banking Act, click here.
