House Committee to Hold Hearing on Marijuana Banking
The legislation, as introduced in past Congresses, would have given CUs a safe harbor when providing services to cannabis-related businesses.
The House Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions Subcommittee next week will hold a hearing on the thorny issue of banking access for those engaged in marijuana-related business.
The hearing is scheduled for Feb. 13 at 2 p.m., but a witness list has not yet been released. The hearing is one of several that Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters announced for the next several weeks. Those hearings will cover a variety of issues, including affordable housing, credit bureaus and diversity trends in financial services.
For the past several years, Reps. Denny Heck (D-Wa.) and Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) have sponsored legislation to ease the way for marijuana-related businesses to obtain banking services.
The legislation, as introduced in past Congresses, would have provided financial institutions, including credit unions with a safe harbor if they provided services to a licensed and legal cannabis-related business.
Financial regulators could not take action against institutions that provide those services.
Lawmakers on both sides of Capitol Hill have tried to attach that type of language to several bills.
Most recently, Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) tried to add an amendment providing a safe harbor to last year’s criminal justice overhaul bill; that effort failed.
At the time, CUNA officials said the legislation was badly needed.
“The legislation would provide credit unions and other financial institutions accepting deposits from, extending credit or providing payment services to an individual or business engaged in marijuana-related commerce in states where such activity is legal with appropriate legal protections, so long as they are compliant with all other applicable laws and regulations,” CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle said, in a letter to lawmakers.
At the time, CUNA officials added that they were not taking a position on the morality of marijuana use, but simply were saying that businesses needed access to financial services.