Five lawmakers from three states lit up the U.S. Senate in Washington today by introducing the first-ever marijuana banking bill.

The bipartisan bill would give state-compliant cannabis businesses access to the banking system by protecting financial institutions against prosecution or asset forfeiture for providing services to those businesses.

The Marijuana Business Access to Banking Act of 2015 was introduced by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) who was joined on the bill by Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) Similar legislation has been proposed in the House in recent years, but this is the first piece of stand-alone marijuana banking access legislation to be introduced in the Senate.

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