Florida deters debanking
DeSantis’ goal with HB 989 was to “strengthen Florida’s protections for consumers … from being forced to adopt ideologies or reflect a preferred political behavior.”
Per an Associated Press report, DeSantis said the law will protect the access that conservative groups and the firearms industry have to the financial sector — and stop them from having their accounts frozen or closed.
The law makes it illegal for banks to “deny or cancel, suspend, or terminate its services to a person, or to otherwise discriminate against a person in making available such services” on the basis of several factors, including (but not limited to):
- The person’s political opinions, speech, or affiliations
- Any factor if it is not a quantitative, impartial, and risk-based standard, including any such factor related to the person’s business sector
- The person’s engagement in the lawful manufacture, distribution, sale, purchase, or use of firearms or ammunition
- The person’s engagement in the exploration, production, utilization, transportation, sale, or manufacture of fossil fuel-based energy, timber, mining, or agriculture
It also allows Floridians to appeal “unwarranted account cancellations and restrictions” through a coordinated complaint and investigatory process within the state’s Office of Financial Regulation.
This potentially places banks and other financial institutions operating in the Sunshine State between a rock and a hard place. They’re required by federal law to implement U.S. criminal and national security policies — including stringent background checks — but in doing so, they risk breaching Florida’s broad-based anti-discrimination law.
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Treasury bites back
The Treasury has openly criticized the new Florida law and any other state laws that bar financial institutions from carrying out necessary risk assessments.
In a July letter to lawmakers, obtained by the Wall Street Journal, Treasury Undersecretary Brian Nelson reiterated the importance of banks being able to probe customers in order to prevent money laundering and counter terrorist financing.
“State laws interfering with financial institutions’ ability to comply with national security requirements heighten the risk that international drug traffickers, transnational organized criminals, terrorists and corrupt foreign officials will use the U.S. financial system to launder money, evade sanctions and threaten our national security,” he wrote.
The letter was sent in response to a July 8 request from Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., and Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., who shared concerns about the potentially negative impact of new debanking laws.
“To any states that are considering similar laws, I urge them to think twice before putting America’s national security at risk,” Rep. Gottheimer said in a statement.
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