Colorado representative reintroduces cannabis banking act in Congress

WASHINGTON — Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Arvada) is submitting the SAFE Banking Act for another shot at passage under a Democratically-controlled House, Senate and White House.

The bill would grant financial institutions safe harbor to provide services to cannabis businesses and third-party vendors without running afoul of money-laundering rules.

Although federal regulators have lifted some restrictions on banks and credit unions to monitor hemp-related businesses in late 2019 after that crop was legalized, workers at dispensaries and similar marijuana-related companies have to primarily deal in cash and physically move large sums of money to their institution due to controls against moving funds in drug-related transactions.

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It would also allow financial institutions to offer startup financing or mortgages to marijuana businesses.

The House passed the bill in September 2019, with 90 of the 102 Republicans in the chamber at the time voting for it along with all but one Democrat. It languished in the Senate that was controlled by Republicans at the time.

House Democrats later included the act within their $2.2 trillion pandemic relief bill last year, but that legislation never advanced due to partisan gridlock over approaches to responding to what would be a high point in COVID cases and deaths over the winter.

In a statement, Perlmutter said the bill would have allowed dispensaries to do more of their business electronically instead of all-cash in states where they were deemed essential businesses. He also argues the bill would allow more private-sector investment into cannabis companies that could replace lost jobs in local communities.

“As we begin our economic recovery, allowing cannabis businesses to access the banking system would also mean an influx of cash into the economy and the opportunity to create good-paying jobs,” he said.

The American Bankers Association has already endorsed the bill.

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