SAFE Banking Act reintroduced in House and Senate, with the USVI's fall cannabis launch tied to banking access

As of June 27, 2026. Bipartisan sponsors filed the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act of 2026 in both chambers of Congress on June 24 and June 25. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) leads the Senate version with cosponsors Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Steve Daines (R-Mont.). Representative Dave Joyce (R-Ohio) leads the House version with seven cosponsors from both parties, per Cannabis Business Times.

For the Office of Cannabis Regulation, the bill targets the federal banking problem Executive Director Joanne Moorehead has tied to the territory’s fall 2026 launch.

What the bill does

The bill would bar federal banking regulators from terminating a bank’s deposit insurance, downgrading its rating, or otherwise penalizing it for serving a state-licensed cannabis business. The same protections extend to companies that provide services to cannabis businesses and to hemp and CBD operators, per Merkley’s office. Existing Financial Crimes Enforcement Network reporting requirements stay in place, and banks that comply would be protected from criminal prosecution and asset forfeiture.

Merkley’s June 25 release framed the issue as public safety: “Legal cannabis businesses operating in all-cash is dangerous for our communities, encouraging criminal activity like robberies, money laundering, and organized crime.”

Three federal tracks, three different effects

• The Justice Department’s April 22 order moved FDA-approved products and state-licensed medical cannabis to Schedule III, as covered in the DOJ rescheduling piece. Schedule III takes qualifying medical operators out from under 280E, the federal tax provision that blocks ordinary business deductions for businesses dealing in Schedule I and II substances. Three petitions challenging the order are pending in the D.C. Circuit. The order affects taxes, not banking.
• The Drug Enforcement Administration’s hearing on moving all marijuana to Schedule III opens June 29 in Arlington, Virginia. A broader rescheduling would extend the same tax treatment to adult-use operators.
• The SAFE Banking Act addresses the third question directly: whether banks can serve cannabis businesses without federal penalty. Rescheduling on its own does not change banking law.

OCR announced in February that Canada First Financial had agreed to provide banking for licensees within current federal rules. A SAFE Banking law would widen the field of banks willing to serve conditional licensees on St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John without risk to their deposit insurance or examination ratings.

The track record

The House passed versions of the SAFE Banking Act seven times between 2019 and 2023. The Senate has never passed one. The Senate Banking Committee advanced a version 14-9 in 2023, and it did not reach the floor. Sponsors have not announced a committee schedule for the 2026 bill.

What to watch

• A House Financial Services Committee or Senate Banking Committee hearing date for the 2026 bill.
• Whether OCR issues guidance to conditional licensees on documenting compliance in a form banks can rely on.
• The DEA rescheduling hearing that opens June 29. The two proceedings are separate, but a broader Schedule III rule would change the federal picture banks weigh when deciding on cannabis accounts.
• Whether any of the ten conditional dispensary licensees reports a banking change before fall.