The House Financial Services Committee approved a bill by a 45-15 vote to make it easier for banks and credit unions to do business with cannabis-related companies.

The SAFE Banking Act (H.R. 1595) would ensure federal regulators couldn’t take enforcement actions against financial institutions that do business either directly or indirectly with the cannabis industry, so long as the businesses are lawful at the state level.

The bill has the broad support of the financial services industry, which would like to work with an industry that generates billions annually but operates almost entirely in cash. Lawmakers supporting the bill view it as addressing a public safety crisis in states where medical or recreational cannabis is legal.

Bipartisan Support

The bill has 152 cosponsors at the time of the vote--more than a third of 432 members of the House. A Senate companion bill is expected in coming weeks, according to a statement from Rep. Ed Perlmutter’s office. It’s unclear whether the bill will be able to make headway in the Republican-controlled Senate.

Perlmutter was an original cosponsor of the SAFE Banking Act, along with Reps. Denny Heck (D-Wash.), Steve Stivers (R-Ohio) and Warren Davidson (R-Ohio).

The March 28 vote included approval of an amendment in the nature of a substitute to the bill as well as three technical amendments. One from Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) would ensure new financial institutions that want to do business with cannabis companies wouldn’t be denied deposit insurance, a master account from the Federal Reserve, or other services necessary to conduct the business of banking.

Another, from Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio), one of the bill’s co-sponsors, would allow insurance companies to receive the same safe harbors from federal enforcement actions as banks and credit unions under the bill. Stivers said he wanted to work on text as the bill progresses through the House to address capital markets access to the industry. “Too many of these companies are forced into the Canadian capital markets,” Stivers said during a March 27 markup session.

A third, from Rep. Scott Tipton (R-Colo.) would require the Government Accountability Office to study previous marijuana business-related suspicious activity reports filed by banks to understand whether they’ve been effective in identifying drug cartels or other bad actors. 

Republican Reservations

Some committee Republicans introduced a handful of other amendments over several hours of debate, but they were either disallowed for being unrelated to the subject of the bill, or rejected in roll call votes.

Committee Chairwoman Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) blocked an amendment from Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.). The amendment would have prohibited federal financial services regulators from pressuring banks to cease business with certain legal industries, such as weapons manufacturers, that some might see as politically distasteful.