CUNA wrote in support of cannabis banking safe harbor and remote notary amendments to the FY22 National Defense Authorization Act Wednesday, prior to the House vote on the bill.

An amendment by Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) was successfully added late Tuesday that would add the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act.

The SAFE Banking Act would provide a safe harbor and other protections for financial institutions serving legal, cannabis-based businesses. The House passed the bill as a standalone earlier this year.

“Inclusion of the SAFE Banking Act puts in place necessary protections to bring revenue from state-sanctioned cannabis businesses into the financial services mainstream and, as a result, keeping communities safe,” the letter reads.

The amendment was offered by Reps. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.), Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.), Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), Lou Correa (D-Calif.), Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), David Joyce (R-Ohio), and Barbara Lee (D-Calif).

CUNA also supported an amendment from Reps. Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.), Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.), Mike Turner (D-Ohio), Perlmutter, and Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.), which would authorize the use of use remote online notarization and create national standards and protections for its use. 

CUNA believes, “it would be in the interest of public policy to have a Federal law permitting remote online notarization” as permanent and pandemic-related requirements vary from state to state.