The SAFE Banking Act has hit a snag in Congress thanks to opposition from the chair of the Senate Banking Committee. The October 2019 post, “Temper Your Expectations on Cannabis Banking Reform: foreseeable pitfalls of the SAFE Banking Act,” explained how the SAFE Act intended to alleviate the bank industry’s cannabis problem, and where it may fall short. We are proud to share that our first post on the topic recently received national recognition as “Best Legal Analysis” in the 2019 LexBlog Excellence Awards.
On September 25, 2019, the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act of 2019 passed the U.S. House of Representatives by an impressive margin of 321 to 103. The U.S. Senate—once seen as a gauntlet of insurmountable obstacles to cannabis banking reform—has also seen some meaningful progress.
Senator Mike Crapo (R., Idaho), the influential chair of the Senate Banking Committee overseeing the SAFE Act in the Senate, previously expressed no interest in allowing the SAFE Act a vote out of committee that would enable the full Senate to vote on its passage. But now, Mr. Crapo has expressed interest in voting on the SAFE Act before year’s end. And Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, whose public comments on marijuana have been negative, recently met with marijuana industry executives in a move some see as potentially signaling McConnell’s eventual support for cannabis banking reform.
Read the rest of “Temper Your Expectations on Cannabis Banking Reform: foreseeable pitfalls of the SAFE Banking Act” here.