Safe Access to Cash Act of 2025
Safe Access to Cash Act of 2025
Plain Language Summary
# Safe Access to Cash Act of 2025 Summary **What It Does:** This bill would clarify that forcing someone to withdraw money from an ATM counts as federal bank robbery. Currently, federal courts disagree on whether this crime falls under federal law—some courts say it does, others say it doesn't because the money technically belongs to the customer at the moment of withdrawal, not the bank.
This bill would settle that dispute by explicitly making ATM-related robbery a federal crime. **Who It Affects:** The bill would primarily affect criminals who commit ATM robberies, making their crimes prosecutable in federal court (rather than just state court) and potentially subject to harsher federal penalties. It would also clarify the law for law enforcement, prosecutors, and judges dealing with these cases. **Key Provision:** The main provision extends the existing federal bank robbery statute to specifically include robbery involving ATMs and forced cash withdrawals, closing the legal loophole that currently allows some courts to exclude these crimes from federal jurisdiction. **Current Status:** The bill is in committee and has not yet been voted on by the full House of Representatives.
CRS Official Summary
Safe Access to Cash Act of 2025This bill specifies that robbery offenses involving ATMs and related cash constitute crimes under the federal bank robbery statute.Currently, the federal bank robbery statute makes it a federal crime to take or attempt to take, by force and violence or by intimidation, money or other property belonging to or in the care, custody, control, management, or possession of any bank, credit union, or savings and loan association.However, federal circuit courts have split on whether forcing someone to withdraw money from an ATM constitutes an offense under the federal bank robbery statute. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that directly forcing a bank customer to withdraw money from an ATM does not constitute a federal bank robbery because the funds were in the possession of the customer, not the bank. In contrast, the Tenth and Seventh Circuits have held that directly forcing a bank customer to withdraw money from an ATM constitutes a federal bank robbery because the funds belonged to the bank when the withdrawal occurred.This bill specifies that for purposes of the federal bank robbery statute, an ATM and any cash in transit to, being loaded into, or being unloaded from an ATM is in the care, custody, control, management, or possession of, any bank, credit union, or any savings and loan association, regardless of whether the ATM is located on the physical premises of such an institution or owned or operated by such an institution.
Latest Action
Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.