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House Budget Would Limit Bank Fines for Marijuana Dispensary Accounts

By Colby Adams

A little-noticed amendment to a U.S. appropriations bill could do what lawmakers and lobbying groups alike have failed to do: ensure that banks don't pay for taking on state-licensed cannabis companies. A budgetary measure approved by the House of Representatives last month would bar federal banking regulators and the Securities and Exchange Commission from using funds to penalize financial institutions strictly because they provide services to a "manufacturer, producer or a person" involved in state-sanctioned marijuana businesses. The amendment, which passed 231-192 last month but has not been formally discussed in the Senate, treats the growing industry's lack of formal...

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