ABA to Crapo: Focus on Marijuana Banking Issues
Bankers want lawmakers to focus on the SAFE Banking Act. CU groups are expected to send their recommendations soon.
Senate Banking Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Id.) should abandon efforts to address wide marijuana policy questions and instead concentrate on the financial services implications, the American Bankers Association said.
“While we appreciate that there is a wide universe of cannabis-related public policy concerns that require the attention of Congress, we strongly urge the Committee to maintain the narrow focus of the SAFE Banking Act on enabling the provision of basic financial services to state-sanctioned businesses,” James Ballentine, ABA’s executive vice president of congressional relations and political affairs wrote in a letter to Crapo.
The SAFE Banking Act is the House-passed legislation that calls for a safe harbor for financial institutions wishing to provide services to marijuana-related businesses.
The ABA and CUNA have endorsed the legislation, but Crapo said he is opposed to it because it does not address the broader implications of cannabis legalization. NAFCU has not taken a position on the legislation.
Crapo has issued a series of broad questions and has asked stakeholders to answer them.
A CUNA spokesperson said in the coming weeks, the trade group will send Crapo a letter answering the questions.
Ballentine wrote that 33 states have legalized some form of retail marijuana sales, but those businesses must deal in cash since they have a difficulty obtaining financial services.
On a separate note, news reports in Denver said that eight marijuana dispensaries in Colorado have been robbed recently. Marijuana is legal in that state and Democratic Rep. Ed Perlmutter of that state is the primary House cosponsor of the SAFE Act. The businesses primarily deal in cash.
In his letter, Ballentine said the SAFE Act represents a tailored bipartisan approach to providing financial services to the cannabis businesses