With congressional leaders appointing key lawmakers to negotiate the final form of a broad manufacturing and innovation bill in recent days, many advocates and stakeholders are hopeful it will be the vehicle to finally enact protections for banks that work with state-legal marijuana businesses—as the House included in its version of the large-scale legislation that’s now heading to a bicameral conference committee. Already, there are signs that the bipartisan Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act could be a focal point for negotiators, with the chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee on Monday listing the bill as one of her panel’s legislative “priorities” as lawmakers move closer to the conference. The measure’s sponsor also emphasized that a strong majority of members appointed to the conference committee have already either cosponsored or voted for marijuana banking legislation in the past. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) didn’t explicitly say how hard she would fight for the cannabis measure’s inclusion in the final package in her capacity as a conferee, but she made a general comment about how Democrats have pushed for policies meant to maximize economic impact and said that cannabis banking reform would both support state markets and provide public safety protections.
Kyle Jaeger, Marijuana Moment, 04/11/2022 17:41:00