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House Bill Would Loosen Banks’ SAR Obligations for Licensed Marijuana Dispensaries
By Colby Adams
printLegislation introduced Wednesday to facilitate access of state-licensed marijuana vendors to banking services would strike down some federal reporting obligations placed on U.S. financial institutions. The Small Business Banking Improvement Act, sponsored by Reps. Jared Polis (D-CO), Barney Frank (D-MA), Pete Stark (D-CA) and Ron Paul (R-TX), is designed to block federal investigations into medical marijuana dispensaries initiated by filings of suspicious activity reports (SARs) by financial institutions. If passed, the proposal would exempt banks from submitting SARs based solely on the fact that the transactions likely involve profits from the sale of medical marijuana in states that have legalized...
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