Congressmember Jay Obernolte (R-CA) has become the 115th sponsor of the SAFE Banking Act.
The SAFE Banking Act was filed last April with 10 sponsors. In the year since, the measure has garnered 105 additional cosponsors, in addition to having an updated version of the measure filed in the Senate in September (which itself has 36 sponsors and has received approval through the Senate Banking Committee).
If passed into law, the SAFE Banking Act would alter federal law so that any financial institution (banks, credit unions, etc.) is explicitly allowed to provide banking services to marijuana businesses, so long as those businesses are following state law. The measure would also alter IRS law that prevents marijuana businesses from taking standard tax deductions since they are selling a federally illegal product.
In the Senate, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said recently that the chamber will work to pass marijuana banking in the “weeks and months ahead”.
According to polling released earlier this week, “by a greater than a 3-to-1 margin (63% support vs. 17% oppose) U.S. adults support Congress passing legislation that allows cannabis businesses to access banking services and financial products like checking accounts and business loans in states where cannabis is now legal”.
The SAFE and SAFER Banking Acts has the support of the National Conference of State Legislatures, as well as a bipartisan group of 22 attorneys general.
