Congress is expected to return to marijuana banking reform later this year, with insiders calling it the best chance yet for the long-stalled legislation to become law.
“In my mind, we have a really, really good opportunity to get SAFE Banking done during this Congress,” said David Culver, senior vice president of the U.S. Cannabis Roundtable, in comments to MJBizDaily. “It’s the best opportunity we’ve ever had.”
The Senate’s revised version of the bill, called SAFER Banking, would provide long-sought protections for banks and financial institutions that work with marijuana businesses. However, lawmakers say the legislation will likely remain on hold until after Congress finishes work on former President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” a sweeping measure that combines tax and immigration changes.
Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno, the lead Republican sponsor of SAFER Banking, said last week he expects movement “hopefully in the fall.” His home state began legal recreational marijuana sales last month.
The holdup is largely due to infighting among Republicans over Trump’s priority legislation, with House conservatives threatening to block the Senate’s version. “It has to conform to the House framework, and it doesn’t,” said Representative Andy Harris of Maryland, who also leads the House Freedom Caucus.
Harris is also backing a separate measure to federally redefine hemp in a way that would ban hemp-derived THC and THCA flower. But that effort faces strong opposition from Republicans in hemp-heavy states like Texas, where Governor Greg Abbott recently vetoed a ban targeting the state’s $5.5 billion hemp market.
Marijuana banking protections were once viewed as the industry’s top federal priority. But that changed in 2022 when the Biden administration initiated the process to reschedule marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act, a move that would provide immediate tax relief for marijuana businesses.
With that process now stalled, banking reform is again taking center stage. Culver said SAFER Banking would not only help the current industry but “open the door up to future discussion of other financial services the industry is in desperate need of, as well as other reform efforts too.”
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