Banks can now serve legal pot businesses without federal penalty
H.R. 9471 — SAFE Banking Act of 2026 · Filed by David Joyce (R-OH) · 9 cosponsors · Introduced Jun 25, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill allows banks and financial institutions to serve state-legal marijuana and hemp businesses without federal regulatory penalties. It creates a 'safe harbor' protecting banks from being shut down, penalized, or discouraged by federal regulators simply for banking marijuana businesses that comply with state law. It also allows mortgage lenders to count marijuana business income when qualifying borrowers for home loans, and requires federal banking agencies to issue clear guidance on serving these businesses.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is to remove federal regulatory barriers preventing banks from serving state-legal marijuana and hemp businesses. It is fundamentally a deregulation measure that aligns federal banking law with state legalization, not a tax provision, subsidy, or commemorative act.
What the text implies
- Banks may face reduced compliance burden for marijuana-related suspicious activity reporting, potentially weakening federal anti-money-laundering oversight if guidance is not carefully calibrated.
- Mortgage lenders accepting marijuana business income as qualifying income may increase exposure to borrowers whose income depends on a federally illegal activity, creating potential liability conflicts if federal enforcement priorities shift.
- The bill's requirement that federal agencies issue guidance within 180 days creates a tight timeline for developing robust compliance frameworks, risking either weak guidance or rushed implementation.
- Depository institutions gain explicit protection from forfeiture of collateral, which may incentivize lending to marijuana businesses but could also shield lenders from consequences of inadequate due diligence.
Who it affects
Ordinary citizens and small business owners in states with legal marijuana gain access to banking services, reducing reliance on cash-only operations and enabling legitimate business growth and homeownership. The bill also protects against arbitrary account closures and requires transparency in federal banking agency decisions. However, the benefit is narrowly tailored to a specific industry and does not address broader financial inclusion.
Who stands to gain
- depository institutions (banks and credit unions)
- mortgage lenders and servicers
- federal reserve banks and federal home loan banks
- insurance companies
- state-sanctioned marijuana businesses
- hemp-related businesses
Named in the bill
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Federal Reserve System, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB), Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Federal Housing Administration (FHA), Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Agriculture, Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), Federal Home Loan Banks — and 4 more
Where it stands
9 cosponsors: 5 Democrats, 4 Republicans.
- Jun 25, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jun 25, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Veterans' Affairs and House Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, and…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
8 lobbying clients named this bill on 9 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $15,445,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 7 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 88% of bills with at least one filing.
David Joyce, the sponsor, reported $984,500 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- National Association of Realtors — $14,580,000 on 1 filing
- Reinsurance Assn of America — $710,000 on 2 filings
- The Us Cannabis Roundtable — $80,000 on 1 filing
- United States Cannabis Roundtable — $45,000 on 1 filing
- National Assn of State Treasurers (nast) — $20,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 23, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the full bill text on Jul 2, 2026; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 23, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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