* Sun-Times…

Gov. Bruce Rauner on Thursday said he’d “probably be comfortable” with a bill to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.

The bill, approved by a 64-50 vote by the Illinois House on Wednesday, would ensure no one in Illinois could be criminally charged for possession of 10 grams or less of marijuana. The Senate passed the measure in April with a 40-14 vote. […]

Steans’ bill could save taxpayers as much as $24 million a year.

On Thursday, Rauner said he’s still reviewing the bill but would likely support it if the language fits his recommendations.

* Tribune…

“We get caught up in what our state pie is going to be, and how much marijuana is going to get sold,” Rauner said Thursday as he was pushing for passage of his “turnaround” legislative agenda at a Springfield steel fabrication plant. He noted that the General Assembly last year passed more than 500 bills, including one that designated pumpkin as the official state pie.

“You know, it’s lovely topics,” Rauner said. “We got a budget crisis, we need more jobs, we need higher wages, we need more money for our schools. Let’s focus on what matters.”

This topic matters, governor. Prohibition has ruined more lives than we can imagine.

And, keep in mind, the reason it’s about to become law is because it was a do-able, bipartisan reform - which you, yourself suggested. C’mon, man.

* While we’re at it, how about loosening up the medical marijuana laws? I was told yesterday that a growing facility in southern Illinois that invested millions of dollars is laying off a bunch of workers because of a lack of demand. Adding more treatable maladies would certainly help.

We also need to look at possibly scaling back the tight restrictions on which doctors can participate. Right now, patients need to have an “established relationship” with their docs. But it turns out that lots of physicians are refusing to participate, either out of fear of federal problems or for personal reasons.

There’s jobs in them thar bushes.

…Adding… Reboot…

Illinois HB 4276 proposes a tax structure [on legalized marijuana] where the general sales tax rate along with a 10 percent excise tax would be applied. The sales tax would be applied to the retail price while the excise tax would be on the wholesale price. Note that this proposed taxing structure would put less of a tax burden on marijuana in Illinois compared with the four states that have currently legalized marijuana. The above estimates for the Illinois marijuana market size based on other states’ recent experiences vary widely, ranging from $536.2 million to $1,152.3 million. Applying the tax structure proposed in HB 4276 (5 percent state sales tax rate along with 10 percent excise tax rate) to our estimates of Illinois market size (assuming a 100 percent retail mark-up, so the excise tax base—the wholesale price—is one-half the retail market amount) yields an annual state revenue estimate ranging between $53.6 million and $115.2 million.

…Adding More… This is the very sort of thing I was talking about yesterday when I said that Rauner needs to more clearly own up to the need for higher state taxation. He vetoed the med-mar bill last year, but provided a detailed roadmap for legislators. They gave him what he wanted and yet he still won’t own it. Very disappointing.