Is the country finally ready for a safe banking act that in effect legalizes cannabis businesses at the federal level?
In recent years multiple bills doing essentially that were passed by the House of Representatives only to be buried in a Senate committee that never reported it out for a floor vote.
There’s a new House bill in play and this time may be the charm, says Terry Mendez, CEO of Safe Harbor and a past podcast guest. Safe Harbor has provided the tools credit unions to offer cannabis banking services since it opened in 2015.
According to Safe Harbor, the current bill would:
Bar federal banking regulators from prohibiting or discouraging banks from serving state-legal cannabis businesses
Bar regulators from terminating or limiting a bank's deposit insurance because it serves a cannabis client
Create a safe harbor from criminal prosecution, liability, and asset forfeiture for banks and their officers/employees serving legitimate state-sanctioned cannabis businesses, while preserving banks' right to decline that business
Extend protection to ancillary businesses serving cannabis operators, including lawyers, landlords, and vendors
By the way, the American Banking Association has come out in support of the act. In a letter to Senate leaders ABA said the bill would “provide important legal and regulatory clarity” and “address a significant challenge facing American businesses, our communities, and the banks that serve them.”
On the show Mendez elaborates on why he believes the bill has a good chance of becoming law.
Listen up.
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