A key piece of legislation aimed at keeping the Chicago Bears in Illinois has passed out of a key House committee Wednesday.
The House Revenue Committee was reviewing the PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) bill that would be designed to give the Bears and other major business projects property tax certainty, a critical measure to pave the way for a stadium to be built in suburban Arlington Heights.
On Wednesday, the committee passed the measure 15-5, with two Republicans joining 13 Democrats in supporting the bill.
The vote paves the way for a full vote on the House floor, which could come as early as Wednesday evening in Springfield.
If passed, the measure would then head to the Senate, which will be in session next week.
The bill would lock in property tax rates for the Bears on the Arlington Heights property, a key point in negotiations between the team and state officials amid the ongoing push to keep the team in Illinois.
There had been some criticism of such a measure, with some arguing it provided incentives to the team to leave Chicago and others pointing to potential shortfalls in revenue that area schools could see in the event the Bears built the stadium in Arlington Heights.
Lawmakers have been working for weeks to address those concerns and to make tweaks to the legislation, and Wednesday’s vote is the biggest step forward yet in the quest to keep the Bears in Illinois.
