Senators are reportedly planning to propose a variety of amendments to a bipartisan marijuana banking bill at Wednesday’s Senate Banking Committee markup, several sources familiar with the discussions say.
While the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act was formally introduced last week following weeks of bipartisan negotiations, there is still evidently disagreement among members over issues such as cannabis industry access to stock exchanges, banking regulations aimed at preventing discriminatory enforcement, broad justice-focused marijuana reform and more.
It’s not clear which amendments may ultimately be filed, but there’s also talk among certain Democratic members about moving to significantly expand the bill’s social equity provisions, which would likely come up against strong resistance from GOP lawmakers as supporters work to bring the legislation to the floor and over to the Republican-controlled House.
“There are plenty of Democrats who aren’t satisfied with banking alone. They want more,” Don Murphy, director of government relations for the Marijuana Leadership Campaign and a former Republican Maryland lawmaker, told Marijuana Moment on Tuesday.
“It’s likely they will offer amendments and then withdraw them. They can say, ‘This is what I like but I know the votes aren’t there. This isn’t the vehicle or this
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