Illinois weed is almost as big of a crime against humanity as prohibition in the first place. There's this dispensary that charges $70 for a half gram vape and their edibles are so weak you might as well just buy cbd hemp in an illegal state.
The fact that you can't use your yard to garden in some areas is just so dumb and ridiculous. They say you "own" the land and then you can't use it for productive means? Gardens are 10x more beautiful then patchy grass anyways. Even a perfect lawn is orders of magnitude uglier then a garden.
Yup, HOA ordinances can't override Municipal or State law. This bill specifically prohibits municipalities from prohibits gardening, so it will also prohibit HOA restrictions as well. Unfortunately, I can see HOAs starting up lawsuits over that
So far, all the sites I've found are talking about city ordinances against gardening, not HOA bylaws.
However, an HOA cannot legally enforce a rule that contradicts a state law. The worst HOAs will still try to enforce illegal rules. Which means you have to sue the HOA.
HOA aren't governmental organizations, they are contractual organizations which makes it more complicated than something like a municipal government. They are private entities more akin to a nonprofit corporations than a government. It will really depend on the language of the law. If it actually guarantees the right to grow a garden then it should override HOA rules, if it just restricts lower levels of government from banning gardens then it is unlikely to affect HOA rules.
It seems to be the former - guaranteeing the right to grow a garden:
Section 15. Right to cultivate vegetable gardens.
Notwithstanding any other law, any person may cultivate
vegetable gardens on their own property, or on the private
property of another with the permission of the owner, in any
county, municipality, or other political subdivision of this
state.
It probably depends on the specifics of the HOA. The article says the bill protects the right to garden on one's own property. Technically, my condo's porch belongs to the HOA and is reserved for my private use. So, I don't think this bill would override my condo's rule forbidding vegetable gardening on the porch.
(Note: I do not live in Illinois anyway. And the reasoning for the rule is "we don't want bears raiding porch gardens")
Yes I can, and I do. There are parts of the USA that are more free than others.
I have solar panels and batteries off grid, in addition to grid power, along with a large garden and livestock in my backyard. We live inside the city limits in a town in the USA. I do what I want on my property, and nobody hassles me about it.
To add to your point: I'm squarely in the suburbs. Several of my neighbors raise chickens, we've got raised beds on the front lawn, and a greenhouse converted from an old lanai out back. I'm not unique in my area either.