Colorado Congressman Gets Blunt: Pass Safe Banking Now!
Our Congressional Neighbor, Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D., Colo., is leading the charge to have the Safe Banking Act passed by attaching it to the extremely large National Defense Authorization bill, which must be passed to fund military operations by January 1, 2022.
Per Yahoo Finance!, “The main idea of Perlmutter’s bill is to make it fully legal for banks and credit unions to provide financial services to the marijuana industry in states where the drug is legal. The current gray area – which has hampered the industry for years and often forces businesses to operate as dangerous cash-only operations – arises from the fact that marijuana is legal in many states but remains illegal at the federal level.”
High Times reports that “the SAFE Banking Act was approved as a stand-alone bill by the House of Representatives. And in September, the House approved the legislation as part of a must-pass defense spending authorization bill. The House and Senate are currently working toward a consensus on the defense spending bill, leaving the fate of the cannabis banking provisions up in the air.
“Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina unveiled a separate bill, the States Reform Act, which would legalize and regulate marijuana at the federal level. ‘There’s nothing really controversial about cannabis except for here in Washington where you have some members who are afraid of it, or afraid to touch it,’ Mace said last Wednesday. ‘It shouldn’t be that way. It’s dangerous.’
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The SAFE Banking Act also has broad support from governors of jurisdictions that have legalized marijuana. In November, a bipartisan group of 24 governors from states and territories with legal cannabis sent a letter to congressional leaders calling for the passage of the legislation.
Mace’s bill serves as an alternative to the MORE Act, a comprehensive proposal advanced by Democrats that would also legalize cannabis at the federal level. The legislation also includes wide-reaching social equity provisions including expungement for federal cannabis crimes. The MORE Act would levy higher taxes than those in Mace’s bill, with revenue raised dedicated to investments in communities harmed by the War on Drugs.
Mace agreed with Hickenlooper that cannabis banking regulations must be changed, saying that the current system offers an incentive to criminals while putting the owners of legal businesses at risk.”