The top law officers from both blue and red states are calling on congressional leaders in the U.S. House and Senate to take up legislation to provide a safe harbor to financial institutions wishing to service the cannabis industry.
The bipartisan group of attorneys general from 28 states, Washington, D.C., and three U.S. territories sent a letter Aug. 24 expressing their support for the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act.
The letter was delivered to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., their minority leader counterparts, as well as the chairs and ranking members of the Senate Banking Committee and House Financial Services Committee.
“We are a bipartisan group of state and territorial attorneys general who, like you, have a strong interest in protecting the physical and economic well-being of our constituents while enabling economic growth and stability in our respective states,” the attorneys general wrote. “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.”
The letter was spearheaded by the District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb, Georgia Attorney General Christopher M. Carr, Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.
It also included signers from the following states and territories: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South, Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands and U.S. Virgin Islands.
“It is increasingly critical to move cannabis commerce into the regulated banking system,” the letter signers wrote, pointing out that the vast majority of states and U.S. territories allow medical cannabis and roughly half the nation permits adult-use cannabis.
“Nationwide, regulated cannabis businesses provided approximately 425,000 jobs in 2024,” they wrote. “These businesses have a sizable economic impact, which is only expected to grow. Industry experts project that combined U.S. annual sales of regulated cannabis could reach $34 billion by the end of 2025.”
Absent of federal legislation, there is a conflict between state-sanctioned cannabis programs and federal banking laws that make the cannabis industry too risky for many banks—especially big banks—to serve. Specifically, federal anti-money laundering laws prohibit depository institutions from handling money that comes directly from criminal activities, such as cannabis sales.
While most banks are state-chartered, every federally insured bank has a primary federal regulator, according to a January 2025 report from the Congressional Research Service.
“Generally, these regulators expect banks to avoid banking with clients that violate federal law,” according to the report. “One example is cannabis businesses. Cannabis is legal in several states, but is banned at the federal level. Thus, a bank chartered in a cannabis-legal state may be in a position to provide banking services to a company operating legally under state law, but it could potentially violate federal law. Thus, banks may choose not to bank with companies in industries that are legal only at the state level due to potential bank exposure to legal risk.”
U.S. lawmakers attempted to provide a legislative fix last Congress, when the Democratic-controlled Senate Banking Committee under former Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, passed the SAFER Banking Act in a 14-9 vote in September 2023. However, former Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., failed to call the legislation to a floor vote for 15 months, despite promising to do so and despite having at least 59 U.S. senators in likely support of the legislation.
RELATED: Where All 100 US Senators Stand on SAFER Banking Act
Now under Republican control, neither chamber has introduced the SAFER Banking Act or similar legislation this Congress. Specifically, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., a cannabis banking reform foe, now chairs the Senate Banking Committee. Majority Leader Thune also opposes the reform proposal.
While the U.S. House passed the SAFE Banking Act seven times under Democratic leadership between 2019 and 2022, the legislation hasn’t seen action under a Republican majority since 2023. Current House Speaker Johnson voted against the SAFE Banking Act in 2021.
Nonetheless, President Donald Trump signaled his support for cannabis banking reform during the campaign trail in September 2024.
As the cannabis industry continues to grow, a “considerable” public safety risk persists, the attorneys general wrote to lawmakers.
“For example, when the public is only allowed to conduct business in cash, employees and customers are at greater risk of violent crime in pursuit of that cash,” they wrote. “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.”
The attorneys general said that the SAFER Banking Act or similar legislation would help ensure that state governments are able to properly collect tax revenues and conduct financial oversight.
“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,” they wrote. “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.”
They added that the SAFER Banking Act would respect state sovereignty and would not encourage legalization.
