With statewide restrictions stalled, City Council committee OKs hemp products ban in two wards near Midway

The sale of delta-8 and other unregulated hemp products would be banned in two Southwest Side wards near Midway Airport under a crackdown advanced Tuesday to fill a void created by a state stalemate.

One day after eleventh-hour opposition from Mayor Brandon Johnson helped to kill statewide restrictions championed by Gov. JB Pritzker, the City Council’s License Committee did what Ald. Marty Quinn (13th) and Silvana Tabares (23rd) called the next-best thing.

By a voice vote, the committee approved an ordinance that would prohibit the sale of “cannabinoid hemp products” in a “Midway Residential Area” that includes all of Quinn's and Tabares' wards.

Pritzker, meanwhile, slammed Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch for not calling for a full vote on a bill he backed to enact statewide restrictions on those products.

It was one of the biggest legislative losses of his tenure — one Pritzker called “a demonstration, from my perspective, of the power of special interests and the money that they spread around to thwart the health and safety of the public.”

He continued: “We know that the vast majority of Democrats were in favor of it, and the vast majority of Republicans were in favor of it. So the fact that it didn't get called — a bipartisan bill to safeguard the people of the state of Illinois — is a tragedy,” a visibly angered Pritzker said at an unrelated news conference in downstate Normal.

The governor grew emotional while describing a heated four-hour caucus meeting on Monday at which several of his department heads were brought in to answer questions about the bill but “were berated” by opponents.

“They were called liars. They were treated extremely poorly. One of my staff people had to get up and leave because she felt ganged up upon and called a liar and pointed at and, I mean, it was frightening for her,” Pritzker said. “To have them treated poorly by elected officials is, frankly, unacceptable, and I told that to the speaker. … They are owed apologies by the people who impugned their honesty.”

Sources close to the governor said they thought the speaker should have stepped in to stop the dressing-down of agency officials.

A spokesperson for Welch had no immediate comment.

Quinn: Don’t put kids at risk ‘to make a quick buck’

Quinn, chief sponsor of the Chicago ordinance, said unregulated smoke shops are “popping up everywhere without any warning or collaboration” with a Chicago Lawn police district already lacking the manpower to respond to emergencies.

“I fully understand the need for revenue. But we should not be putting kids in harm’s way to make a quick buck,” he said.

His ordinance also would prohibit the commissioner of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection from issuing “any new retail tobacco dealer license” or renewing “any existing tobacco dealer license for a retail tobacco store” within the designated area.

The 13th Ward has the city's “largest population of Chicago Public School students," Quinn said. “I’m worried. It’s just a matter of time” before a tragedy occurs.

Johnson took a political beating before the final vote.

Former Finance Committee Chair Scott Waguespack (32nd), deposed by Johnson, accused the mayor of putting the search for a paltry amount of revenue over children’s health and slammed him for sending staffers to Springfield to help kill the bill.

“Shame on Mayor Johnson,” Waguespack said.

“What they’re saying is, it’s OK to market this garbage to my kids at a local shop. And that’s just disgusting. … This is just infuriating to see our mayor going down there and putting a block on Gov. Pritzker and what he was trying to do to regulate something that needs to be regulated."

Waguespack said the unregulated products being marketed to minors in general and high school kids in particular looks like Halloween candy.

“This isn’t just another faux pas in a … long list of mistakes,” Waguespack said. “I don’t want the revenue from something like this. I want it blocked. I don’t want to see it in the stores in my neighborhood. … We’re supposed to protect kids — not put 'em on the chopping block.”

Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) accused the mayor of “hanging on to this ridiculous pipe dream of getting revenue” from a dangerous and unregulated product that, at best, could generate $600,000 in annual revenue for the city.

“This is not a revenue stream the city needs,” Reilly said, He hopes Springfield will “wake up and do the right thing," but “in the meantime, we can act now. ... The City Council needs to take a hard look at making this a citywide ban.”

Johnson pleased with bill’s demise

In a statement issued Tuesday, Johnson said he was pleased the Pritzker-endorsed ordinance sponsored by State Sen. Kimberly Lightford "did not move forward during the lame-duck session."

"Our communities require legislation that addresses concerns related to minor consumption, as well as opportunities for regulation that supports entrepreneurs and municipalities,” the mayor was quoted as saying.

Johnson says he looks forward to helping to forge a compromise between the warring hemp and cannabis industries that can "avoid unintended consequences." That agreement must balance the need for "safety and economic development" while also "preserving local control," the mayor said.

"My team is eager to come to the table with partners in Springfield to develop and pass legislation that appropriately regulates hemp products to keep our children safe while ensuring local municipalities across Illinois do not lose a potential revenue source," the mayor was quoted as saying.

That statement echoed the comments of Ald. Will Hall (6th), appointed by Johnson to chair a revenue sub-committee.

Hall plans to hold a subject matter hearing this month on his own pending ordinance that would regulate and tax Chicago’s estimated 260 hemp stores.

“Hemp is legal. What we’re witnessing is a black market that has excluded so many regulation partners as well as revenue partners,” said Hall. “Other cities are getting it correct with both regulation as well as revenue."

‘This is going to get done,’ bill’s sponsor says

State Rep. Kam Buckner, the Chicago Democrat who sponsored the bill in the House, said the “robust debate” in their caucus “reflects the high stakes and complexity of the issues we face as legislators.”

“The speaker has a process in place that has served our caucus well, and I am confident that it will work again as we move forward on this issue,” Buckner said in a statement. “This is going to get done, and I am committed to working with all stakeholders to ensure we achieve a solution that protects the public, supports innovation and entrepreneurship, and moves Illinois forward.”

Sources in the governor’s office downplayed Johnson’s role in tanking the bill.

Pritzker also got in a dig at the mayor’s approach in Springfield, where so far Johnson has garnered little support for his administration's priorities.

Johnson’s office never called Pritzker’s about the hemp bill, jumping over the weekend into the lobbying gauntlet that has simmered for two years.

“They don't reach out very often, and it seems like they don't have good relationships in Springfield, in part because they don't do the outreach that's necessary,” Pritzker said. “He has my direct number. He calls me whenever he needs to. He doesn't call very often. Maybe in the time that he's been mayor, he's called me perhaps five times. That's in two years, almost.”

State Sen. Kimberly Lightford, Hillside Democrat who championed the stringent regulations on hemp products, said she was “disappointed the House could not come to an agreement.

“The bill — which passed with bipartisan support in the Senate — was a culmination of dozens of hours of meetings with the hemp industry, cannabis industry and other leaders. If passed by the House, it would have reached the common goal to have a fair, just and safe industry,” Lightford said in a statement.

West Side Democratic state Rep. La Shawn Ford led the House effort against the bill. He’s pushing legislation to limit hemp product sales to people 21 or older, require manufacturers to undergo product testing to obtain $500 licenses, impose a 10% tax rate on sellers and — most importantly — allow current sellers to stay in the market.

“The process continues and I hope we don't stop until we get the best regulation,” Ford said.

Tiffany Chappell Ingram, executive director of the Cannabis Business Association of Illinois, said the bill failure “leaves consumers at risk and undermines the state’s carefully regulated cannabis market, particularly social equity cannabis license holders who face extensive rules and regulations while those selling intoxicating hemp continue to get off easy.”