The Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act, a bill offering protections for banks and credit unions providing financial services to cannabis businesses, has cleared the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.

The bill now heads to the full Senate for consideration, the first time cannabis banking legislation has made it out of Senate committee. The SAFER Banking Act has been placed on the Senate’s legislative calendar, but no specific date has been set for its review.

Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), lead sponsor of the SAFER Act and its predecessor, the SAFE Act, pointed to the difficulties cannabis businesses face without access to banking services.

“Forcing legal businesses to operate in all-cash is dangerous for our communities; it’s an open invitation to robberies, muggings, money laundering and organized crime — and the only people benefiting from the current system are criminals,” Merkley said. “Passing the SAFER Banking Act through committee is an historic moment in this body. I am committed to building bipartisan momentum to finally get a bill signed into law that ends the cannabis cash economy and improves public safety across the nation.”

The SAFER Act would offer “safe harbor” to institutions that offer financial services to state-sanctioned cannabis businesses. The legislation also includes provisions for hemp businesses, which according to the bill text, continue to “to have difficulty gaining access to banking products and services.”

When the bill is considered before the full Senate, two more acts may be added — the Harnessing Opportunity by Pursuing Expungement (HOPE) Act, which would support states with grants that want to expunge cannabis records, and the Gun Rights and Marijuana (GRAM) Act, which would allow state-legal cannabis users to purchase and possess firearms.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who also co-sponsored the SAFER Act, showed his support for the additional social justice measures.

“The @SenateBanking Committee has passed our SAFER Banking Act—a huge step to help cannabis businesses operate more safely and efficiently” Schumer posted on X. “I've long advocated to expunge records for cannabis offenses, and I’m working to include provisions like HOPE and GRAM. Now is the time.”