Revised marijuana banking bill gains new support

U.S. senators have introduced a revised version of the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act in an effort to connect legal marijuana companies to banking services, and the bill has garnered new support.

Reports in Forbes on Friday (April 12) said Senators Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), plus 20 additional co-sponsors, introduced the legislation just weeks after a similar bill was approved by the House Financial Services Committee.

The revised SAFE Banking Act would protect financial institutions from punishment for providing financial services to legal marijuana companies. Last week, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told policymakers he supports the initiative.

“If this is something that Congress wants to look at on a bipartisan basis, I’d encourage you to do this,” he said during a hearing. “This is something where there is a conflict between federal and state law that we and the regulators have no way of dealing with.”

 

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