SE Illinois News

Former State Sen. Darren Bailey has joined the chorus of Republican voices criticizing a piece of Democratic-sponsored legislation that restricts when police can search a car if cannabis is suspected to be in it.

The State Senate recently passed a piece of legislation that would prohibit officers from searching a vehicle or its passengers if the officers detect the smell of marijuana emanating from the car.

"This is absolutely pathetic legislation,” Bailey told the SE Illinois News Report. "It’s really a struggle to understand what the people supporting this are thinking. It seems they want a lawless society."

Democratic Sen. Rachel Ventura sponsored the bill and lawmakers in the chamber voted 33–20 to pass Senate Bill 125. The measure is now waiting to be considered by the state’s House of Representatives, the Schedule 6 Foundation said in a report. 

Senate Democrats said the bill is rooted in a Will County court case, the Schedule 6 article said. There, a defendant was on trial after having been pulled over and arrested after the officer detected “a strong odor of burnt cannabis emanating from the vehicle.” The defendant claimed that the smell was from someone having smoked cannabis in the car “a long time ago.”

Supporters of the bill argued it will protect residents' rights against unreasonable searches.

“Marijuana may be legal, but it’s still not regulated to the point it needs to be,” Bailey said. “The harm that can be done to people by us not doing a better job of regulation is unfathomable, and we’re making it even more likely bad things will happen with proposals like this."

The bill leaves intact the state’s laws around impaired driving. The bill has a clause that says, “If a motor vehicle is driven or occupied by an individual 21 years of age or over, the odor of burnt or raw cannabis in a motor vehicle by itself shall not constitute probable cause for the search of the motor vehicle, vehicle operator, or passengers in the vehicle.” With that, the act of operating a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would remain a criminal offense.

One of the reasons critics oppose the bill is that it hamstrings police officers, making it harder for them to do their job.

“That’s exactly what it does,” Bailey said, adding that Gov. J.B. Pritzker and other Democrats “want this lawless society and they’re doing everything they can to make that happen.”