Bill > HB5815

This bill establishes the Illinois Freedom Program as a new subprogram under the existing Restore, Reinvest, and Renew (R3) Program—an initiative that reinvests state cannabis tax revenue into communities historically harmed by past drug laws—to provide direct cash payments to eligible individuals who have been disproportionately impacted by historical cannabis enforcement. To fund this program, the legislation creates a dedicated "Illinois Freedom Fund" in the state treasury, which will be financed by the future growth in recreational cannabis tax revenues that exceed a baseline year running from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027. The bill explicitly protects existing community investments by prohibiting the new program from reducing, reallocating, or delaying the cannabis tax funds currently distributed to existing R3 area grantees. Additionally, the legislation authorizes the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA)—the state agency responsible for criminal justice research and grant administration—to work alongside the R3 Program Board to create rules for administering the fund, and updates the duties of the Cannabis Equity Commission to ensure that expenditures from the new fund comply with these baseline financial protections when the law takes effect on July 1, 2027.