With just two days to go before adjournment, the Illinois Senate Executive Committee cleared changes to the marijuana legalization measure, including changes to expungement and home grow, and approved the bill for a full floor vote.
With the clock ticking to adjournment, an Illinois Senate committee on Wednesday cleared changes to a comprehensive measure that would legalize recreational marijuana.
The Illinois Senate Executive Committee voted 13-3 to approve the latest language. Senate Democrats said the measure would quickly head to the floor for a full vote later Wednesday.
Changes include allowing only medical marijuana patients to have up to five plants in a home; and scaling back expungements. Convictions dealing with amounts of cannabis up to 30 grams will be dealt with through the governor’s clemency process, which does not require individuals to initiate the process. For amounts of 30 to 500 grams, the state’s attorney or an individual can petition the court to vacate the conviction.
The original language would have automatically expunged an estimated 800,000 convictions. The revised language means those with convictions for cannabis possession convictions under 30 grams can get pardoned by the governor. States attorneys would then be able to petition the court to expunge the record. A judge would direct law enforcement agencies and county clerks to clear their record. This only applies to those convicted with no other violent crime associated with the charge. And it only applies for convictions that have taken place when the bill takes effect on Jan. 1.
“It’s only a one-time look back,” bill sponsor State Sen. Heather Steans, D-Chicago, said after committee. “That’s an important point.”
Designed to address concerns about impaired driving, new language would also add a DUI Task Force led by Illinois State Police to examine best practices. Those would include examining emergency technology and roadside testing, bill sponsor State Sen. Heather Steans, D-Chicago, said during the Illinois Senate Executive Committee.
Deputy Gov. Christian Mitchell also testified that a social equity loan program was upped to $30 million, from $20 million. He said the expungement changes were made in conjunction with Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, other states attorneys and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul.
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State Sen. Jason Barickman, R-Bloomington, commended sponsors for going back to the table to set a “gold standard” for workplace standards. New changes also include strengthening language to ensure employers can maintain a zero tolerance drug policy, should legalization happen.
Jim Kaitschuk, executive director of the Illinois Sheriffs’ Association, said during the committee that home grow still remains an issue, even if it’s limited to medical marijuana patients since the program is expanding: “We don’t have access. We won’t be able to tell who is doing what.”
New conflict of interest provisions were also added, which would ban lawmakers and their family members, as well as state employees from being able to get a cannabis business license for two years.
The conflict of interest ban was added after it was reported that state Sen. Patricia Van Pelt, D-Chicago, was involved in marketing and investment seminars and leading a company that intended to obtain license to grow and sell marijuana. Van Pelt was removed as a sponsor of the bill on May 15. The Sun-Times reported that Van Pelt and her involvement in the business is being investigated by the Illinois Secretary of State’s office. And while Van Pelt told the Sun-Times that she wouldn’t be involved in shaping the legalization bill, she did not commit to abstaining from votes on the measure.
Opponents of the wide-ranging bill had free rein to voice their displeasure at a lengthy Senate committee hearing in Springfield on May 15 — and they aired concerns about everything from how law enforcement will measure impairment in drivers to which marijuana offenses should be expunged to whether or not weed causes erectile dysfunction.
The bill is one of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s key priorities this legislative session, and sponsors want it passed by Friday, the end of the regular legislative session.
On May 4, Pritzker gave a stamp of approval to the measure that will allow Illinois residents over 21 to buy cannabis from licensed dispensaries. It would allow Illinoisans over 21 years old to possess 30 grams, or just over an ounce of cannabis flower, and 5 grams, or less than a quarter-ounce, of cannabis concentrates such as hash oil. Additionally, Illinoisans would be able to carry up to a half-gram of edible pot-infused products.
The bill’s criminal and social justice considerations initially included plans to use an automated system to expunge marijuana convictions and allow those with pot convictions to work in the legal cannabis industry. The measure also creates a designation for “social equity applicants” hoping to obtain licenses and provide minority-owned businesses support.
