House to Consider Marijuana Banking Bill in Coming Days

As the House prepares to vote on marijuana banking legislation, supporters have agreed to add two provisions that may make the proposal more acceptable to Republicans and the Senate.

The House is expected to vote on the legislation next week. Senate Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said on Friday that the bill will go to the floor using a process known as “suspension of the rules.”

Under that process, at least two-thirds of the members must vote in favor of the bill for passage, debate is limited, and no amendments are allowed.

The bill, H.R. 1595, would provide a safe harbor for financial institutions that provide services to marijuana-related businesses.

This week, sponsors of the bill agreed to amend the bill before it goes to the House floor; the CU Times obtained a copy of that bill.

As amended the bill would prohibit financial institutions from terminating a customer’s account unless the institution has a valid reason; that reason may not be solely based on reputational risk.

That amendment is intended to ensure that projects like the Obama Administration’s Operation Choke Point may not be repeated.

That project was intended to hold financial institutions accountable for processing transactions they knew were fraudulent.

Critics have said that the program empowered financial institutions to decline to provide services for controversial businesses, such as gun dealers and payday lenders.

The NCUA has said it did not participate in Operation Choke Point and the Trump Administration has ended it.

Legislation to outlaw Operation Choke Point-type programs passed the House, 395-2, during the last Congress.

The bill also would push federal regulators to ensure that financial institutions can provide services to hemp-related businesses. Hemp is a special interest of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who controls which bills go to the Senate floor.

Senate Banking Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Id.) has said his committee may mark up marijuana banking legislation later this year but said the bill may not be identical to the House bill.

Several banking trade groups, including CUNA and the American Bankers Association this week sent a letter to lawmakers supporting the House bill.

“Without congressional action, a significant portion of economic activity, including those businesses with only indirect connections to the cannabis industry, such as vendors, suppliers, and utility companies, risk being marginalized from the financial system in states with legal cannabis industries,” the groups said.

Several civil rights and progressive groups have said the House should hold off on passage of the banking bill until Congress can consider legislation that makes marijuana legal.

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.), said this week that members of Congress should not enact banking legislation alone and believe that the work is done.