Illinois poised to be 10th state w a fully legal cannabis market

SgtLanquel · May 31, 2019

The House overwhelmingly passed a bill that already cleared the Illinois Senate and Governor Pritzker will codify it into law this coming month.

This is the first state to fully legalize a regulated market via the legislature and of course serves as a harbinger for more states to follow suit.

Upwards of 50% of the American adult population is now reasonably insulated from criminal prosecution related to personal use and/or regulated commercial sales of cannabis

SgtLanquel · May 31, 2019

In related news, the state of Colorado this week removed most of the impediments for non-residents to legally invest in state-legal cultivation and dispensary businesses affiliated w the cannabis industry

TheComputerGroup · May 31, 2019

Should be legal federally thru out america, & I don't even smoke.

Illinois is trying to pass sports betting & tiday is their last day for their session I believe.

SgtLanquel · May 31, 2019

Likely the most awesome component of the Illinois legislation is that the Governor will be issuing full pardons for every person in the state of Illinois with a low-level possession offense.

This will fully clean the records of hundreds of thousands of Illinois residents who have proven to otherwise be law-abiding citizens

tanner12oz · May 31, 2019

We are going through the process in pa for recreational and the pardon eliminate a big topic of interest

SgtLanquel · Jun 3, 2019

And now in Oklahoma, a ballot initiative passed in 2016 to change many lower level drug law offenses from felony to misdemeanors has been made fully retroactive by the legislature and Governor.

Tens of thousands will either be released from prison or have sentences heavily shortened. Even a larger number will see their felony convictions expunged.

A highly progressive move from a state which heretofore had rivaled LA, MS, GA and FL for their decades of using the so-called War On Drugs as a defacto Jim Crow Version 2

The Greatest One · Jun 3, 2019

Just remember citizens...... he is voting.....and on top of that thinks it is ok to not have “NL”tattooed On his forehand. He is a true danger to US citizens

Albatross · Jun 4, 2019

Illinois is trying to do whatever it can to keep the state economy from collapsing... just buying time imo.

Ricboff · Jun 5, 2019

Albatross said:
Illinois is trying to do whatever it can to keep the state economy from collapsing... just buying time imo.

debt matters. govt after govt just kicking the can......

https://www.governing.com/topics/finance/gov-municipal-bonds-platte-county-default.html

Governments Rethink Their 'Moral Obligation' to Municipal Bondholders

In the post-recession era, some struggling governments are choosing not to pay bondholders -- and judges are allowing their refusal.

When a government defaults on debt, it’s usually because it can’t afford the payment -- not because it doesn’t want to make the payment.
But that’s changing.
In Missouri, a judge ruled last week that Platte County, home to Kansas City, was completely within its rights when it opted six months ago to not pay a $765,000 bond payment due for a long-struggling shopping development. In his decision, Circuit Court Judge James Van Amburg noted there was “no promise or requirement” for the county to pay the debt on the Zona Rosa retail center, even if the county auditor’s proposed budget included a line item for the payment (which was the case last year).

In Platte County’s case, the Zona Rosa bonds were issued by the county’s Industrial Development Authority to finance parking garages in the shopping center. The bonds were supposed to be paid back with revenue from a 1 percent sales tax on Zona Rosa businesses, but sales have fallen short.
Although Platte was not legally obligated to cover any payments in the case of a shortfall, investors and credit agencies have typically considered governments in those situations to be “morally obligated” to do so. That's because a default by a related government entity -- in this case, the Industrial Development Authority -- would still be a mark against the credit worthiness of the main government -- the county.
But Platte County refused to pay anyway.
“The county’s budget is tight, so they’ve decided it's worth [fighting] this,” says Court Street Group municipal analyst Joseph Krist. “Like many other things, a ‘moral obligation’ to pay is -- for better or worse -- not what it once was.”
That’s becoming true for other types of bond debt, too.
Earlier this year, an appeals court in New York ruled that Puerto Rico was not required while in bankruptcy to continue paying bonds that are paid back through a special dedicated revenue. (Think: water or sewer bonds paid back from consumers’ bill payments.) The ruling undermined the market’s view that special-revenue bonds were safe harbors in a municipal bankruptcy.
Even when courts allow governments significant leeway -- such as the ability to cut retiree pensions in municipal bankruptcy -- governments have tended to make bondholders give up more.
Detroit’s bankruptcy in 2013 shook the municipal world when it pushed through a restructuring plan that placed general obligation (GO) bondholders behind the city's pensioners when it came to who would recover the most of what they were owed. GO debt is supposed to be backed by the full faith and taxing power of the government selling them. Before Detroit, they had been considered unbreakable.
Credit Downgrades

To some extent, these deeds don’t go unpunished.
Even before it let the Zona Rosa bonds go into default, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Platte County to junk status. In reaction to the Puerto Rico ruling, Moody’s and Fitch Ratings have placed dozens of other governments with related special revenue bonds under review for a downgrade.
Still, Todd Graves, an attorney for Platte County, said the ruling in Missouri helped stop a “bondholder bailout” by the taxpayers.
“This is a great day for taxpayers -- and a firm rebuke to financiers attempting to abuse the public treasury,” he said.
UMB Bank, the trustee for the bonds, told the Kansas City Business Journal that it will "continue to work with counsel to explore options and keep working in the best interest of bondholders.”
Perhaps more than ever, municipal bond investors need to be careful about what they’re buying, says Krist, the municipal analyst.
“The onus,” he says, “is on the investor to understand the legalities.” @)

(translation; we are broke. not going to fuck the tax payer, they are broke too. so you bond holders r shit out of luck..)
...............

need sources of revenue- that's why gambling, weed are going to be legal. Those 'vices' are okay now.

Ricboff · Jun 5, 2019

what happens to all these pension funds if the markets cant keep humming along?

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4267386-municipal-bonds-full-faith-credit-falls-flat

Municipal Bonds: When Full Faith And Credit Falls Flat

Summary
With the proportion of retired pensioners and lifespans increasing across the globe, many governments face a challenging dilemma: how to raise enough tax revenues from the young to pay for the pensions promised to the retired?
Pension liabilities didn't rattle US municipal bond markets much before the financial crisis a decade ago.
Illinois bond ratings are already skating just one notch above "junk" status. If Illinois gets downgraded, the pain could be sharp.

Once upon a time, US municipal bonds were generally considered less risky than corporate bonds. Backed by the full faith and credit of state governments, investors had confidence they would receive their principal plus interest without fail. Times have changed.

For some states and local governments, decades of financial mismanagement and massive pension liabilities are threatening to upend the full faith and credit pledge. In this article, Franklin Templeton Fixed Income takes a look at the situation, with Illinois being an example of a particularly dire case.

...

rest of article in the link

Willie99 · Jun 5, 2019

My friend from Florida should be proud of the fact that my posse visited this business while in the Berkshires last week

https://www.theorywellness.org/great-barrington-recreational-marijuana/

https://www.theorywellness.org/great-barrington-medical-marijuana-pre-rolls-recreational/

Just dong my best to frequent local businesses and help grow the economy

Illinois poised to be 10th state w a fully legal cannabis market

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