AGs push bill to aid pot businesses
Pa. joins calls for SAFER Banking Act to ease bank restrictions
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Attorney General David Sunday joined a 23-state coalition of his peers calling on the federal government to ease banking restrictions impacting the cannabis industry.
Even though 40 states allow medical marijuana use and 24 states have legalized adult recreational use, federal law makes it difficult to complete financial transactions with the proceeds of marijuana sales.
The attorneys general said Congress should pass the SAFER Banking Act.
Pennsylvania has had a medical marijuana program in place for more than eight years and has the sixth largest cannabis program in terms of sales.
Pennsylvania's medical marijuana program had $1.7 billion in sales last year. Nationally, marijuana sales topped $30 billion in 2024 and industry experts expect sales will hit $34 billion this year.
More than 425,000 people work in cannabis-related businesses in the United States. Industry officials say there are more than 25,000 people working in the cannabis industry in Pennsylvania already -- a number that could double if the state were to legalize adult recreational use of cannabis.
The most visible aspect of the situation is that customers can't pay with credit or debit cards when they buy marijuana in dispensaries. However, cannabis-related firms struggle to deal with many financial transactions since few banks will deal with money generated by marijuana sales, said Chris Lindsey, vice president of state advocacy for the American Trade Association for Cannabis and Hemp.
When banks do agree to handle marijuana-related funds, they typically charge the cannabis businesses due to the extra amount of paperwork they have to complete to document the transactions, he said.
"It becomes extremely expensive" to complete the financial transactions, he said. That can also squeeze out smaller start-up businesses that are trying to enter the cannabis industry, he said.
The letter, signed by a bipartisan group of attorneys general, emphasizes that current federal banking restrictions create unnecessary public safety risks by forcing legitimate cannabis businesses to operate primarily in cash. This cash-intensive environment makes employees and customers targets for violent crime while undermining states' ability to effectively regulate and tax these industries, the attorneys general said.
Even paying taxes becomes difficult, Lindsey said.
On tax day, cannabis companies deliver their payments in duffel bags of cash, which he said creates additional burdens on state revenue departments that must arrange to accept those payments.
"It becomes like the green room in a casino," Lindsey said.
Pennsylvania does not currently collect sales tax on medical marijuana, but cannabis firms pay corporate and other taxes. If Pennsylvania legalizes adult recreational use of marijuana, customers would pay sales tax.
The state's Independent Fiscal Office estimated that legalizing adult recreational use of marijuana would generate $142 million for the 2025-26 budget and $279 million in the following budget year.