The Illinois Senate has passed a vote towards the legalization of marijuana.  House Bill 1438 was debated and after some tweaks of the bill itself, the Illinois Senate voted 38-17 in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana with two republicans joining with the democrats to vote “yea.”  Some of the changes to the original bill include eliminating the home grown rule and only allowing those who need medical marijuana to home grow.  Other changes included expungement of previous marijuana arrests through a clemency program if it’s under 30 grams.  If anything more than 30 but less than 500, you would have to petition a court to vacate the charge.  Senator Chapin Rose who is the Republican Senator for the 51st district, says that he voted no on the bill due to “pot shops being put in the poorest zip codes of Illinois.”

The vote goes back to the House of Representatives, and if passed there, a seemingly automatic signature from governor JB Pritzker, since it was part of his campaign promise. The new legislation would go into effect January 1, 2020.