SAFE Banking Act Progress

The SAFE Banking Act is the first meaningful legislation aimed to protect financial institutions who bank legitimate cannabis businesses.

We can’t move forward in this space without common sense legislation to rectify the state to federal dissonance. 

This bill prohibits a federal banking regulator from:

(1) terminating or limiting the deposit insurance or share insurance of a depository institution solely because the institution provides financial services to a legitimate marijuana-related business;

(2) prohibiting or otherwise discouraging a depository institution from offering financial services to such a business;

(3) recommending, incentivizing, or encouraging a depository institution not to offer financial services to an account holder solely because the account holder is affiliated with such a business; or

(4) taking any adverse or corrective supervisory action on a loan made to a person solely because the person either owns such a business or owns real estate or equipment leased or sold to such a business.

There are 180 sponsors and it’s moving through the house. Recently the National Association of State Treasurers have banded together to support this bill.

“Lacking banking services, many legal cannabis businesses operate solely in cash,” it says. “Cash-based systems are inefficient, expensive, and opaque, making illicit activity more difficult to track and posing a significant risk to public safety by increasing the likelihood of violent crime.” —NAST

As specified by the bill, a depository institution shall not, under federal law, be liable or subject to forfeiture for providing a loan or other financial services to a legitimate marijuana-related business.

Let’s show our politicians how much we support the SAFE Banking Act.

You can track it here.