Bill

HR 9471

SAFE Banking Act of 2026

119th Congress Introduced by Lou Correa and 7 co-sponsors

The bill creates broad safe harbors and protections for banks and insurers serving state-sanctioned marijuana and hemp businesses, including money-laundering, liability, and collat

Introduced in House

WeVote Research Nonpartisan

Bill Summary · HR 9471

Purpose and scope

Bill: HR 9471, the Secure And Fair Enforcement Banking Act of 2026 (SAFE Banking Act of 2026)
Objective: Create protections and safe harbors for financial institutions that provide banking and other financial services to State-sanctioned marijuana businesses and to service providers for those businesses, as well as to hemp-related legitimate businesses and service providers.
Jurisdiction: United States; introduced in the House on June 25, 2026. Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services and to Judiciary and Veterans’ Affairs for consideration.

Key provisions and changes

Section 3 — Safe harbor for depository institutions
- Prohibits federal banking regulators from terminating or limiting deposit insurance, or taking adverse actions, against a depository institution solely because it provides services to State-sanctioned marijuana businesses or service providers.
- Prohibits regulators from discouraging or downgrading services to such accounts, or taking adverse actions against loans to these entities, based solely on the State-sanctioned status.
- Extends safe harbor protections to depository institution charters applying for charters (to the same extent as for existing institutions).
Section 4 — Protections for providing services
- Proceeds from marijuana-related activities conducted in compliance with state law are not considered proceeds from illegal activity for purposes of federal money-laundering statutes (18 U.S.C. 1956 and 1957) or other federal laws merely because they involve a State-sanctioned business or service provider.
Section 5 — Protections under federal law
- Broad protections for institutions, insurers, and their personnel when providing services to State-sanctioned marijuana businesses or service providers.
- Protects against liability under federal law for providing such services or for reinvesting income derived from them.
- Specifies similar protections for Federal Reserve Banks, Federal Home Loan Banks, and insurers.
- Forfeiture protections for collateral tied to loans or services to State-sanctioned marijuana entities (and for collateral in federally backed mortgage contexts) when the income is from State-sanctioned activity (marijuana or related services). Marijuana or marijuana products themselves are excluded from “collateral.”
Section 6 — Suspicious activity reporting
- Amends 31 U.S.C. 5318(g) to mandate that SARs related to State-sanctioned marijuana businesses follow Treasury guidance.
- Treasury must amend FINCEN guidance (FIN-2014-G001) or issue new guidance within 180 days to align with SAFE Banking Act goals.
Section 7 — Guidance and examination procedures
- Within 180 days, FFIEC (in coordination with Treasury) must develop uniform guidance and examination procedures for banks serving State-sanctioned marijuana businesses and service providers.
- Permits legacy cash deposits from the first 90 days of relationship if properly documented and consistent with due-diligence and reporting requirements.
Section 8 — Hemp-related businesses and service providers
- Updates banking guidance to address hemp-related legitimate businesses and service providers, clarifying compliance with federal laws, including subchapter II of Chapter 53 (Bank Secrecy Act) and related hemp regulations.
Section 9 — Treatment of income for federally backed mortgages
- Income from State-sanctioned marijuana activities (or hemp-related service providers) can be treated the same as other legal income for eligibility for federally backed single-family mortgages.
- Mortgage lenders and related agencies may not be liable solely for providing or underwriting mortgages based on such income.
- Implementation timelines for FHA, VA, USDA, and mortgage guarantors to adjust their underwriting guidelines within 180 days.
Section 10 — Deposit account termination procedures
- Sets thresholds and requirements for how federal banking agencies may request or order the termination of accounts, including protections against termination based solely on reputational risk.
- Provides notice requirements and limits in cases involving national security or criminal investigations.
Section 11 — Diversity and inclusion reporting
- Requires annual reports from federal banking regulators on access to financial services for minority-owned, veteran-owned, women-owned, and small State-sanctioned marijuana businesses.
- Recommends regulatory or legislative steps to expand access.
Section 12 & 13 — GAO studies
- GAO study on diversity and inclusion barriers in market access for minority/veteran/women-owned and small State-sanctioned marijuana and hemp businesses (due within 2 years; report due within 2 years).
- GAO study on the effectiveness of suspicious-transaction reporting in identifying criminal actors, including whether these reports effectively detect persons/entities in state contexts allowing marijuana activity.
Section 14 — Applicability to hemp
- Provisions applicable to hemp-related legitimate businesses and service providers are made to apply in the same manner as for State-sanctioned marijuana businesses (with exceptions noted in Sections 6 and 13).
Section 15 — Rules of construction
- Clarifies no mandate to provide banking services; preserves general examination and enforcement authority; affirms McCarran-Ferguson and Dodd-Frank boundaries for insurance regulation.
- Maintains that enforcement actions cannot be solely based on providing services to State-sanctioned marijuana businesses.

Who would be affected

Depository institutions (banks, credit unions, and similar entities) and entities performing financial services for them.
State-sanctioned marijuana businesses and their service providers (and hemp-related legitimate businesses and hemp-related service providers).
Federal regulators (FFIEC member agencies, Treasury, FinCEN, and related bodies) responsible for banking supervision, guidance, and enforcement.
Mortgage lenders and federally backed mortgage programs (FHA, VA, USDA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac) regarding income from state-legal marijuana activities.
Minority-owned, veteran-owned, women-owned, and small State-sanctioned marijuana businesses, via annual diversity/inclusion reporting and potential enhanced access programs.

Procedural and timeline aspects

Uniform guidance and examination procedures: to be developed within 180 days of enactment.
SAR guidance alignment: Treasury amendments within 180 days.
Hemp-related guidance updates: completed within 90 days for hemp provisions; broader updates aligned with enactment.
Implementation for mortgage income treatment: FHA, VA, USDA, and GSEs to implement within 180 days of enactment.
GAO studies: initiated and reports due within specified timeframes (2 years for the diversity study and a later 2-year study on reporting effectiveness).

If you’d like, I can tailor this summary to a specific audience (lawmakers, financial institutions, journalists) or provide a side-by-side comparison with the prior SAFE Banking Act versions.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.