Illinois has a brand new high hashish regulator following an appointment from Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday.
Pritzker announced that Erin A. Johnson will now function the state’s Hashish Regulation Oversight Officer. Johnson replaces Danielle Perry, who left the position earlier this yr.
“Erin Johnson’s dedication to fairness will serve Illinois properly as she takes the reins because the state’s Hashish Regulation Oversight Officer,” Pritzker, a Democrat, mentioned in an announcement on Monday. “From serving because the Chief of Workers on the Illinois Division of Juvenile Justice to working as Affiliate Common Counsel and Chief Range Officer, Erin has the expertise, training, and experience to thrive on this position whereas advancing hashish fairness all through Illinois. I can consider no higher particular person than Erin to function our Hashish Regulation Oversight Officer and I want her all the most effective on this new place.”
The Hashish Regulation Oversight Workplace is “part of the Illinois Division of Monetary and Skilled Regulation and is chargeable for coordinating with quite a few state companies to direct the regulation and taxation of Illinois’ hashish business,” based on the governor’s workplace.
“This work is completed to make sure Illinois’ social fairness targets are met via expungements, group reinvestment, and the diversification of the state’s hashish business,” mentioned the press launch from Pritzker’s workplace.
Johnson’s appointment should be confirmed by the Illinois state Senate.
“I’m extremely grateful to Governor Pritzker for trusting me to steer the administration’s hashish regulation efforts,” Johnson mentioned in Monday’s press launch. “Collectively we’ll transfer Illinois ahead and proceed to construct a hashish business that’s pushed by social fairness, offering alternatives and righting generations of wrongs.”
Pritzker, who received re-election earlier this month, signed the invoice that legalized leisure hashish in Illinois in the summertime of 2019. Within the three years since, the governor has made the brand new adult-use marijuana program a centerpiece of his tenure.
Earlier this month, Pritzker introduced that the state was earmarking $8.75 million in loans to “all conditionally-approved social fairness mortgage candidates with the intention to present rapid entry to capital.”
“Fairness has at all times been on the core of our hashish legalization course of. It’s why we expunged a whole lot of 1000’s [of] low-level hashish fees and instituted the Hashish Social Fairness Mortgage Program. However I do know that if we need to create a really equitable hashish business in Illinois, we should give our enterprise homeowners the sources they should develop—each figuratively and actually,” mentioned Pritzker. “That’s why we’re launching this Direct Forgivable Mortgage Program to supply a much-needed jumpstart for social fairness candidates who’ve confronted hurdles in pursuit of capital funding. This $8.75 million will assist our social fairness licensees open their doorways for enterprise—a serious step in direction of making a affluent hashish business right here in Illinois.”
The governor’s workplace defined that this system “is a first-of-its-kind program that launched in the summertime of 2021 with the objective of offering low-interest loans to social fairness licensees via a partnership with lending establishments,” and that individuals in this system “have encountered important delays in receiving capital via monetary establishments as a result of complexities of navigating a brand new business that continues to be unlawful underneath federal legislation, in addition to establishments’ fiduciary, regulatory tasks and underwriting requirements which are set impartial of this system.”
“The brand new Direct Forgivable Mortgage Program absolutely financed by the State provides funding for all eligible program individuals upon the submission of required documentation,” Pritzker’s workplace defined. “As a result of [the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity] has already obtained important documentation from program individuals, the extra documentation necessities for a direct forgivable mortgage are minimal to permit for immediate disbursal of funds. The forgivable mortgage has an 18-month grace interval with no funds or curiosity accrued to supply companies with flexibility.”
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