Last May, the General Assembly passed a bill that would have decriminalized the possession of up to 15 grams of marijuana and set a per se standard for determining when a driver is intoxicated. On August 14, 2015, Governor Rauner signed an amendatory veto, sending the bill back to the legislature with instructions to lower the possession amount to 10 grams and reduce the per se intoxication standard from 15 ng/ml of active THC in the blood to 5 ng/ml.

Legislators did not override or accept the governor's amendatory veto, and the bill died. Now, two new bills, HB 4357 and SB 2228, seek to revive the decriminalization law, bringing the proposed legislation in line with the governor's recommendations. The Senate bill passed April 19; HB 4357 awaits action by the full House.

Learn more about the law and hear from Larry Davis of ISBA's Traffic Laws and Courts Section Council in the May Illinois Bar Journal.