Politics
Bipartisan Coalition Of 32 Attorneys General Pushes Congress To Urgently Pass Marijuana Banking Bill
A bipartisan coalition of 32 state and territory attorneys general from across the U.S. are calling on Congress to pass a marijuana banking bill to free up financial services access for licensed cannabis businesses.
In a letter sent to House and Senate leaders on Thursday— led by the attorneys general from Washington, D.C., Georgia, Maryland and Ohio—the officials said they want to see the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act taken up this session.
“We are a bipartisan group of state and territorial attorneys general who, like you, have a strong interest in protecting the physical and economic wellbeing of our constituents while enabling economic growth and stability in our respective states,” the letter says. “We therefore urge Congress to advance this legislation, which will increase access to regulated banking and financial services for state-regulated cannabis businesses in jurisdictions that have legalized these businesses.”
“It is increasingly critical to move cannabis commerce into the regulated banking system. The majority of states and several territories have legalized some use of cannabis,” it says. “As more states continue to consider and implement legalization efforts, the lack of access to America’s financial system by cannabis businesses—which is a direct result of federal banking law—presents a considerable safety issue for the public.”
The officials stressed that, under current federal policy, many marijuana businesses are forced to operate on a largely cash-only basis, making them targets for crime and putting employees and customers “at greater risk.”
“Allowing access to the nation’s regulated banking system is crucial to public safety and to ensuring that lawful businesses in our states have access to regulated banking services,” they wrote.
The letter also states that the current lack of banking access for the cannabis industry makes tax collection and oversight more challenging, and the SAFER Banking Act “would help ensure that state governments do not forfeit hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue that the cannabis industry generates.”
However, despite the attorneys general saying at the top of the letter that they’re voicing support for the “SAFER Banking Act of 2025,” the bill has not yet been reintroduced this session, so it’s unclear whether any provisions might be changed from the prior version that died at the end of the last Congress.
“To address these challenges, we request that Congress advance the SAFER Banking Act or similar legislation. Congress should provide a safe harbor for depository institutions that provide a financial product or service to a covered business in a state that has implemented laws and regulation that ensure accountability in the cannabis industry. An effective safe harbor would bring billions of dollars into the banking sector, enabling law enforcement, federal, state, and local tax agencies, and cannabis regulators in the states and territories to more effectively monitor cannabis businesses and their transactions. Compliance with tax laws would be simpler and easier to enforce with the regulated tracking of funds in the banking system, resulting in higher tax revenues.”
“The SAFER Banking Act is common-sense, bipartisan, and will beneficially impact the safety of the nearly 75 percent of Americans who live in a state where cannabis has been legalized,” the letter concludes. “The bill respects both state sovereignty and the current status of cannabis at the federal level. It does not encourage legalization, nor does it facilitate cannabis sales in states that have chosen not to legalize it.”
“The SAFER Banking Act simply addresses the specific public policy challenges facing states in light of the federal prohibition on banking cannabis-related funds, and it does so in a way that will help move cash from legal cannabis businesses into the highly regulated banking system, where it will be more transparent to state regulators and law enforcement,” it says. “We look forward to working on this bipartisan issue with you.”
The other signatories on the letter are the attorneys general of Alaska, American Samoa, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Northern Mariana Islands, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, U.S. Virgin Islands, Utah, Vermont, Washington and West Virginia.
“When legal cannabis businesses are forced to operate in cash, it’s not just inefficient–it’s dangerous,” Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) said in a press release. “The SAFER Banking Act is a practical solution that will protect workers and communities while ensuring Arizona can effectively collect taxes and oversee this growing industry.”
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) said that, “By reducing the risk of crime and improving tax compliance through access to regulated financial services, the SAFER Banking Act has the ability to enhance both public safety and transparency.”
“With billions in revenue, giving cannabis businesses a secure place to bank isn’t just smart policy—it’s common sense,” she said.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser (D), meanwhile, said he’s “been urging Congress to allow cannabis companies to access the commercial banking system for years because of the safety risks many cannabis companies take on simply to do business.”
“This commonsense reform will also make it easier for Colorado to oversee the industry, better protecting consumers, public safety, and public health,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Senate sponsor of the marijuana banking bill recently said that, despite efforts to coordinate meetings around the legislation, other priorities have taken precedence for now.
Asked about recent comments Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH)—the lead GOP sponsor of the SAFER Banking Act this session who told Marijuana Moment that he doesn’t expect the bill to come up until this fall—Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) said, “Hopefully sooner than later in my mind.”
In January, the office of Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH), who is again leading the effort on the House said, told Marijuana Moment that he would be filing the cannabis banking legislation this session but that its introduction was “not imminent” as some earlier reports had suggested.
A leading anti-marijuana group recently sounded the alarm about a possible attempt to put the cannabis banking measure in a cryptocurrency bill that was advancing on the Senate floor, but that didn’t come to fruition.
With Republicans in control of both chambers and key leadership positions filled by opponents of marijuana legalization, it’s been an open question about whether any cannabis reform legislation stands a chance of passage in the short-term. That’s despite the fact that President Donald Trump endorsed marijuana industry banking access, federal rescheduling and a Florida legalization initiative on the campaign trail. However, he’s been silent on the issue since taking office.
On the House side, a Republican lawmaker said in March he’s hopeful that Congress will be able to get a marijuana banking bill across “the finish line” this session, arguing that the current barriers to financial services for the industry represent a “second tier” of prohibition.
Cannabis industry banking challenges came up in several congressional hearings in March, including a Senate Banking Committee meeting on debanking where senators on both sides of the aisle addressed the lack of financial services access for marijuana businesses.
Meanwhile, in January congressional researchers released a report detailing the subject of debanking—while making a point to address how the marijuana industry’s financial services access problem “sits at the nexus” of a state-federal policy conflict that complicates the debate.
Separately, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) announced in December that it’s convening focus groups comprised of marijuana businesses to better understand their experiences with access to banking services under federal prohibition.
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The industry remains frustrated with the lack of progress on the cannabis banking issue under the last administration.
A Senate source told Marijuana Moment in December that Republican House and Senate leadership “openly and solely blocked” then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) attempt to include the bill in a government funding bill as the session came to a close.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) had challenged the idea that there was enough GOP support for the SAFER Banking Act to pass on the Senate floor during the lame duck session.
Warren accused certain Republican members of overstating support for the legislation within their caucus, while also taking a hit at Trump for doing “nothing” on cannabis reform during his time in office as he makes a policy pivot ahead of the election by coming out in support of the marijuana banking bill and federal rescheduling.
Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) also recently argued in an interview with Marijuana Moment that the main barrier to getting the marijuana banking bill across the finish line is a lack of sufficient Republican support in the chamber. And he said if Trump is serious about seeing the reform he recently endorsed enacted, he needs to “bring us some Republican senators.”
Prior to becoming House speaker, Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) consistently opposed cannabis reform, including on incremental issues like cannabis banking and making it easier to conduct scientific research on the plant.
Meanwhile, on the one-year anniversary of a Senate committee’s passage of the SAFER Banking Act in September, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released an analysis on the economic impact of the reform, including the likely increase in federally insured deposits from cannabis businesses by billions of dollars once banks receive protections for servicing the industry.
Separately, the CEO of the financial giant JPMorgan Chase said recently that the company “probably would” start providing banking services to marijuana businesses if federal law changed to permit it.
