ILLINOIS (WAND) - The Illinois State Police have expunged nearly 500,000 non-felony cannabis-related arrest records, Gov. JB Pritzker announced.
The Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act, which the governor signed into law in 2019, requires cannabis-related arrest records from 2013 and 2019 (47,000 records in total) to be expunged by Jan. 1, 2021. There is a Jan. 1, 2025 statutory deadline for completing automatic expungements, which is now finished at the state level with 492,129 expungements completed.
This puts ISP four years ahead of schedule. Even though the state level of expungements is complete, most counties are still processing local expungements and must finish by the Jan. 1, 2025 deadline. Counties with arrest records already expunged include DuPage, Kane, Knox, Lake, McHenry, McLean, Peoria, Rock Island, Will and Winnebago counties.
Pritzker announced he has also issued 9,219 pardons for low-level cannabis conviction records. There have now been over 20,000 convictions pardons since the CRTA was signed.
“Statewide, Illinoisans hold hundreds of thousands low-level cannabis-related records, a burden disproportionately shouldered by communities of color,” said Pritzker. “We will never be able to fully remedy the depth of that damage. But we can govern with the courage to admit the mistakes of our past—and the decency to set a better path forward. I applaud the Prisoner Review Board, the Illinois State Police, and our partners across the state for their extraordinary efforts that allowed these pardons and expungements to become a reality.”
“The public servants of the Illinois State Police Division of Justice Services have worked diligently on the expungement process for thousands of eligible records across the state,” said ISP Director Brendan F. Kelly. “We will continue to work closely with the Governor in the years ahead to implement this new law.”
Under the CFTA, 25 percent of revenues Illinois collected from recreational cannabis sales will go to communities disproportionately affected by the justice system, the governor's office said. Funding is coming through the Restore, Reinvest and Renew (R3) Program., and over $25 million is going to organizations in historically underserved communities across Illinois in the coming weeks.
In addition to a disparity study being conduction and financial support going to organizations, a press release said Pritzker's administration is offering lower application fees, low-interest loans and informational workshops to social equity applicants on cannabis-related licenses.
"Governor Pritzker continues to work with State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, the Prisoner Review Board, and state’s attorneys across Illinois to expunge additional records of non-violent offenders with a cannabis related conviction," the release said .
