For the second time in as many years, the House of Representatives passed the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act (H.R. 1996) on Monday. The bill is designed to allow state-legal marijuana businesses have access to banking and financial services. The bill would bar federal regulators from imposing civil or even criminal penalties on financial institutions that serve those businesses.
In an indication of broad political support for normalizing marijuana, the bill was approved on a bipartisan vote of a 321 to 101, with 91 Republicans and one Independent joining with the Democratic majority. It is not at all clear, however, whether any Republicans in the Senate can be persuaded to follow the lead of their House colleagues when they are presented with a chance to vote on companion legislation, S. 910, in the evenly-divided Senate.