(date: August 20, 2019) By July 2020, the Illinois Department of Agriculture will have issued the first craft grower licenses. To prevent large commercial growers from dominating the industry, the State will only issue one license per applicant. There are 40 licenses authorized in this first batch, with an additional 60 that will be authorized in December 2021. While [...]
(date: July 24, 2019) The State of Illinois officially legalizes recreational marijuana after the Illinois Senate and House passed a comprehensive cannabis bill. Governor J. B. Pritzker signed the bill into law on June 25, 2019, fulfilling a substantial campaign promise. Illinois is the first and only state to legalize cannabis through the legislative process, instead of a [...]
(date: July 24, 2019) Anyone wishing to break into Illinois’s new recreational marijuana industry should start preparing to apply for an operational license as soon as possible. Knowing when to apply and how the State will score applicants improves your chances of getting a license. Here is what we know about the process so far: Applications must [...]
With the holidays behind us, it’s time to get back to business and, with the turning of the calendar, your policies and processes might need to be updated to match changes in the law. The Illinois legislature passed several laws last year, effective on January 1, which affect small businesses. Here are some of the most relevant changes: The [...]
It’s Christmas come early! Earlier this week, Mayor Lightfoot gave an early present to small business owners outside of the Loop. She released a plan to streamline small business licensing, which would open five regional centers to help with licensing issues. Currently, these matters can only be handled downtown at the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP) [...]
