Advocacy on the Move
Senate Banking Committee Hearing Dives into Canna Banking Issues
July 23, 2019

This is the first time proposed federal legislation aimed at resolving some of those issues, received a Senate hearing.
Of note:
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), who is cosponsoring SAFE, noted Oregon took in $80 million in taxes from legal marijuana -related businesses in FY 2018, but due to the dangerous high-cash environment, “that’s $80 million traveling down the roads and highways n duffle bags and backpacks.”
Rachel Pross, Chief Risk Officer at Salem, Oregon-based Maps Credit Union, told the committee about her credit unions’ work to serve 500 canna-related accounts. Pross noted Maps is “on track to remove over $860 million in cash from the sidewalks of Oregon’s communities, in just three years’ time.”
“We need Congress to provide financial institutions that choose to serve state-sanctioned cannabis businesses with a safe harbor,” Pross said.
Posted in Advocacy on the Move.