A newly filed Illinois bill would establish a state program providing direct cash payments to people who have been disproportionately impacted by past marijuana enforcement.
Representative La Shawn K. Ford (D-Chicago) filed House Bill 5815 on September 17. The measure would amend the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act to create the Illinois Freedom Program as a subprogram of the state’s existing Restore, Reinvest, and Renew (R3) Program.
Under the proposal, the program would issue direct cash payments to eligible individuals who have been disproportionately affected by historical marijuana enforcement. The legislation would also establish the Illinois Freedom Fund as a special fund within the state treasury to finance the program.
The bill specifically states that creation and operation of the Freedom Program could not reduce, reallocate, delay or otherwise diminish marijuana tax revenue currently distributed to organizations receiving funding through the R3 Program. Instead, the proposal calls for certain funds to be transferred from the Criminal Justice Information Projects Fund into the newly created Illinois Freedom Fund.
Illinois created the R3 Program as part of its legalization of recreational marijuana. Under existing law, the program is designed to direct resources toward communities disproportionately affected by economic disinvestment, violence and the enforcement of drug laws.
HB 5815 would authorize the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, working with the R3 Program Board, to adopt rules governing implementation and administration of the Freedom Program and its associated fund.
If approved by lawmakers and signed into law, the legislation would take effect July 1, 2027.
Illinois legalized recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older in 2019, with legal sales beginning in January 2020. The state’s legalization framework included several provisions designed to address harms caused by decades of marijuana prohibition, including expungement, social equity licensing and reinvestment in communities disproportionately affected by enforcement.
