The legislation, filed on Thursday by Rep. La Shawn K. Ford (D), would create a new Illinois Freedom Program “for the purpose of issuing direct cash payments to eligible individuals who have been disproportionately impacted by historical cannabis enforcement.”
The effort would supplement the state’s existing Restore, Reinvest, and Renew (R3) program, which uses marijuana tax revenue to support community reinvestment in areas harmed by the war on drugs.
The cash payments would be administered through a new Illinois Freedom Fund, which the bill says would “consist of the incremental growth in cannabis tax revenue.”
The legislation specifies that the existence of the cash payments program “shall not reduce, reallocate, or otherwise diminish” the amount of cannabis revenue distributed to grantees under the existing R3 program.
That board, in cooperation with the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, would be authorized to adopt rules to implement and administer the new cash payments program under the bill.
If HB 5815 is enacted into law, the program would take effect on July 1, 2027.
Ford, the legislation’s sponsor, is running for a seat in Congress in the November elections to replace the retiring Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL).
The bill builds on Illinois’s existing framework for directing cannabis revenue to communities affected by past enforcement. Under the R3 program, marijuana tax revenue currently supports community reinvestment in areas harmed by the war on drugs.
The proposed Illinois Freedom Program would add a direct cash payment component to that framework. Payments would go to eligible individuals who have been disproportionately impacted by historical cannabis enforcement, with funding drawn from the incremental growth in cannabis tax revenue through the Illinois Freedom Fund.
The legislation also includes protections for existing R3 grantees, providing that their funding cannot be reduced below base year levels or delayed as a result of the new program.
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