The Senate Banking Committee has officially scheduled a hearing to take up the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act on Thursday, May 11 at a meeting titled “Examining Cannabis Banking Challenges of Small Businesses and Workers,” reported Marijuana Moment Thursday evening.
Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown (D), Senate Banking Committee Chairman, told reporters that senators planned to “move quickly” on the legislation from Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Steve Daines (R-MT).
Last week a group of bipartisan lawmakers refiled the cannabis banking bill. Senators Merkley and Daines along with Ohio Rep David Joyce (R) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) introduced the bipartisan, bicameral Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act of 2023.
Why It Matters
Under the proposed bill, financial institutions would be allowed to provide banking and financial services to legal cannabis businesses.
“This legislation will save lives and livelihoods. It is past time that Congress addresses the irrational, unfair, and unsafe prohibition of basic banking services to state-legal cannabis businesses,” Blumenauer, co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus said at the time.
Cannabis Stocks Jumped On The News
The AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis exchange-traded fund MSOS, +9.93% rallied by 8.6%, while holding on to a loss of 17% for the year.
Curaleaf Holdings Inc. (OTCQX:CURLF) was up 6.56% at the close, Green Thumb Industries Inc. (OTCQX: GTBIF) was up 8.27% and Trulieve Cannabis Corp. (OTCQX: TCNNF) rose by 8%.
Boris Jordan, executive chair of Curaleaf, said Tuesday that the U.S. Cannabis Council was preparing to announce a super PAC to raise money to lobby for U.S. cannabis legislation, reported Market Watch.
Merkley tweeted on Thursday that he and Daines “reintroduced the bipartisan SAFE Banking Act to reform outdated laws that force legal cannabis businesses to operate entirely in cash—a dangerous system that puts employees and communities at risk.”
“We have a path to a hearing and floor vote,” he said. “Let’s get it done!”
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