House Approves Marijuana Banking Protections For Third Time As Part Of New COVID Bill

For the third time in just over a year, the House of Representatives has approved legislation that would protect banks that service state-legal marijuana businesses from being penalized by federal regulators.

The text of the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act was included in a wide-ranging coronavirus relief bill that members approved on the floor on Thursday. This is the second time the House inserted the cannabis banking language in COVID-centric legislationthat cleared the chamber after having previously passed it as a standalone bill. While the scope of the latest pandemic relief proposal was generally scaled back in an attempt to make it more palatable to the GOP-controlled Senate, the marijuana provisions remained intact.

The bill, known as The Heroes Act, was approved in a vote of 214-207.