A bipartisan group of 32 state and territorial attorneys general is calling upon Congress to enact legislation facilitating state-licensed cannabis businesses’ access to banks and other financial institutions.
In a letter to Congressional leaders and ranking members of the House and Senate banking committees, signatories urge federal lawmakers to enact the SAFER Banking Act or similar legislation.
“As more states continue to consider and implement legalization efforts, the lack of access to
America’s financial system by cannabis businesses — which is a direct result of federal banking
law — presents a considerable safety issue for the public,” they write. “For example, when the public is only allowed to conduct business in cash, employees and customers are at greater risk of violent crime in pursuit of that cash. Allowing access to the nation’s regulated banking system is crucial to public safety and to ensuring that lawful businesses in our states have access to regulated banking services.”
Prior versions of the SAFER Banking Act have been repeatedly advanced by members of the House of Representatives, but Senate lawmakers have never advanced this legislation to the floor for consideration.
Currently, fewer than ten percent of all financial institutions nationwide are provide services to state-licensed cannabis businesses. That’s because federal law discourages banks and other institutions from maintaining relationships with cannabis businesses because marijuana remains classified as a Schedule I controlled substance. According to survey data compiled by Whitney Economics, over 70 percent of participating cannabis businesses say that the “lack of access to banking or investment capital” is their top challenge.
NORML has repeatedly called upon Congress to amend federal banking legislation, opining: “No industry can operate safely, transparently or effectively without access to banks or other financial institutions, and it is self-evident that the players in this industry (smaller and minority-owned businesses in particular), and those consumers that are served by it, will remain severely hampered without better access to credit and financing.”
Lawmakers have yet to reintroduce SAFER Banking legislation this session.
The full text of the AGs’ letter is available online.
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