(Washington, D.C.) After being removed from the National Defense Authorization Act, the SAFE Banking Act may have a second life in Congress. The bill's lead sponsor, Congressman Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), tweeted over the weekend that he would seek to add the bill as an amendment to the America Competes (Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology) Act. In his announcement, the Congressman stated "cannabis-related businesses – big and small – are in desperate need of access to capital & the banking system in order to operate in an efficient, safe manner & compete in the growing global cannabis marketplace."
The SAFE Banking Act, passed by the House in April 2021, would protect federally regulated banking and depository institutions by prohibiting regulators from penalizing the institution for providing banking services to a legitimate cannabis-related businesses. The Act is one of a number of cannabis-oriented proposals currently pending before Congress.
See our previous blog post on the various cannabis proposals now pending in Congress.