HB3953 Summary

• Creates the Cannabis Banking and Credit Union Act to establish a licensing procedure for financial institutions to provide banking services exclusively to cannabis businesses and ancillary cannabis-related entities.

• Establishes a Cannabis Banking and Credit Union Advisory Board composed of the State Treasurer, State Comptroller, and Secretary of Financial and Professional Regulation to oversee licensing, enforcement, and provide guidance on cannabis banking matters.

• Authorizes licensed cannabis limited charter banks and credit unions to issue special purpose checks valid only for paying state and local taxes, business rent, vendor expenses, and purchasing state and local government bonds.

• Requires licensees to obtain deposit insurance, comply with federal Bank Secrecy Act provisions, prohibits banking activity with non-licensed institutions, and restricts mergers to same-type institutions only.

• Sunsets the Act if the federal government either removes cannabis from controlled substances or enacts legislation protecting depository institutions serving cannabis businesses, with a one-year wind-down period for orderly resolution of licensed institutions.