Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) says a committee vote on a marijuana banking bill will be scheduled “in the near future” following an initial hearing on Thursday—and he is reiterating plans to attach criminal justice reform provisions to the financial services measure.
In a speech on the floor on Thursday evening, Schumer said that the Senate Banking Committee meeting represented a “big step” for the bipartisan Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act, which was refiled by Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Steve Daines (R-MT) last month.
“SAFE Banking would ensure cannabis businesses have equal access to critical banking infrastructure in states that have legalized cannabis,” he said. “We’ve all heard the tales of small businesses and even larger ones walking around with a huge amount of cash because they can’t do banking. SAFE Banking would change that and allow them to bank as other businesses because it is legal in many states.”
Watch Schumer discuss the cannabis banking bill in the video below:
He also reiterated plans to incorporate additional “criminal justice provisions…most importantly the expungement of criminal records for certain low marijuana offenses” after the bill clears committee and moves to the floor. On Thursday, he and
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