State Sen. Rachel Ventura introduced a measure that would prevent the odor of raw or burnt cannabis from being the sole reason for police to search a vehicle, driver or passenger without a warrant.

“The Supreme Court gave a conflicting directive in its recent ruling between raw and burnt cannabis, shifting a huge burden to law enforcement to know the difference,” Ventura, a Democrat from Joliet, said in a news release. “This bill aims to clean up that court ruling by directing law enforcement to consider all factors – not just odor – in deciding if the law has been broken.”

The Illinois Supreme Court ruled in 2024 on two separate cases contradictory to each other on whether the scent of cannabis is a probable cause.

The court held in People v. Redmond that the odor of burnt cannabis alone is insufficient to provide probable cause for police officers to perform a warrantless search of a vehicle.

In People v. Molina, the court ruled that the odor of raw cannabis, standing alone, gave police probable cause to search a vehicle.

Under Senate Bill 42, cannabis odor alone would not allow for a search of the driver or passengers of a vehicle, and a vehicle and its passengers may not be detained based on only the odor of cannabis.

Additionally, the legislation would remove current law requirements that cannabis possessed in a vehicle must be stored in an odor-proof container, but it continues to require that cannabis be stored in a secured, sealed or resealable child-resistant container, according to the release.

“Removing the odor-proof container rule will provide drivers the peace of mind of knowing they cannot be stopped solely for possessing a legal product. SB 42 will also relieve the burden on law enforcement to decipher the difference between raw and burnt cannabis,” Peter Contos of Cannabis Equality Illinois said in the release.

Currently, there are two states that have similar court cases: Vermont and Colorado. The Vermont Supreme Court in Zullu v. Vermont concluded in 2019 that the faint odor of burnt cannabis did not establish probable cause.

Senate Bill 42 has been assigned to the Senate Criminal Law Committee.