SZALINSKI’S SUMMARY: Gov. JB Pritzker said there is a need for speed in the legislature on the megaprojects bill designed to keep the Chicago Bears in Illinois. Pritzker also explained what changes the Bears might want to see to the bill.
WHY IT MATTERS: The Bears are meeting with NFL leaders next week to discuss their stadium search, according to ESPN. Though Bears leadership said they plan to pick between Arlington Heights or Hammond, Indiana, either late in the spring or early in the summer, the league has been putting pressure on the Bears to make a decision soon.
“It’s not going to, you know, completely flip the script, and all of a sudden, on that date, you’re going to see, you know, Indiana is being chosen if Illinois doesn’t have a bill,” Pritzker said. “Having said that, if there is not true progress that gets made, if it isn’t obvious to people that the Senate is moving in the right direction, I think that will make it challenging.”
SENATE SLOWDOWN: Sen. Bill Cunningham, D-Chicago, did not commit to moving House Bill 910 forward when the Senate returns next week, saying in a statement that the chamber will evaluate the legislation and decide its next steps. Pritzker, however, told reporters in Chicago on Friday “we need to move somewhat expeditiously.”
BIG BILL: The megaprojects legislation lives up to its name, but not just because of the size of the projects. The bill is jammed with economic development programs from Chicago to Springfield, which turned a bill that was initially 38 pages into 377.
“I think now you’ve got a bill that’s probably, you know, has too many items associated with it, or at least some of them that need amending,” Pritzker said.
WHAT THE BEARS WANT: So what changes do the Bears want after they issued a statement saying the bill needs work? Pritzker said the team is opposed to a section of the bill that allows local government to impose a 9% amusement tax for events held in a STAR bonds district. The legislation specifically excludes stadiums from being eligible for STAR bonds, but other parts of the Arlington Park development could use the tool.
“They had said at the outset that an amusement tax is something that really won’t work, and that they really don’t want to see happen on top of all the other taxes that are imposed here,” Pritzker said. “So, you know, when a … 9% amusement tax has been put on by the House, obviously that’s something that they didn’t expect.”
BUCKNER’S REBUTTAL: House negotiator Rep. Kam Buckner pushed back on the claims regarding the 9% tax in a statement to Capitol News Illinois: “This is not a Bears clause. This is part of a statewide framework making sure that every region, city, town, and village in Illinois has the ability to utilize the full set of tools in the toolbox,” he said.
“This isn’t for the Bears, and it’s not about their project,” he added. “All of the Bears’ proposed project sits in Arlington Heights, which is a home rule community, and Illinois law already allows home rule municipalities to impose taxes like an admissions or amusement tax without needing this legislation.
“If we’re asking communities across the state — including non-home-rule areas — to stand up entertainment districts, we can’t do that and then deny them the same tools that other entertainment districts already have. It’s not a new Chicago Bears tax.
INFRASTRUCTURE: The team still wants about $800 million in infrastructure funds related to construction around the site, Pritzker said. However, the governor said some of that funding has already been set aside for projects in the area that are scheduled regardless of if the Bears move to Arlington Heights. Infrastructure funding was not part of the bill and would likely be considered during the budget process at the end of May.
WHAT’S NEXT: The Senate returns on Tuesday and will begin evaluating the bill. It remains to be seen if they will act on it next week while the House is off. Either way, the earliest the measure could get to the governor is the first week in May.
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