With the Illinois legislative session set to adjourn on Sunday at the end of May, lawmakers are up against the clock to advance a wide range of legislation, including the closely-watched Chicago Bears’ stadium project.
Illinois lawmakers have spent months negotiating deal that would set property taxes for the team at the former Arlington Park in suburban Arlington Heights, but discussions have hit multiple hurdles. Legislators also face added pressure as Indiana puts forward a proposal to try to lure the Bears across the state line,
After months of public sparring and ongoing discussions, a key deadline that could prove to be the pivotal moment in determining whether the Bears stay in Illinois is set to arrive this weekend.
That deadline is 11:59 p.m. on Sunday night, the Constitutionally mandated end of the spring legislative session in the state of Illinois. While lawmakers have been known to blow past the deadline, it still represents a critical moment in the talks aimed at convincing the Bears to stay.
Until that point, only a simple majority of lawmakers are required to approve a piece of legislation to send to the desk of Gov. JB Pritzker.
What if no agreement is reached?
If no agreement on a Bears stadium deal is made, then a special session of the legislature could be called, but it would also raise the bar for finalizing an agreement.
That’s because after the spring session the threshold for bill passage rises from a simple majority to a three-fifths majority under the Illinois Constitution. That would require 71 votes for a bill to pass in the House and 36 in the Senate.
House Speaker Chris Welch has said he won’t call a bill for a vote in the chamber unless it has 60 Democrats supporting it, but there’s been plenty of opposition to the bill within members of the Democratic caucus in Springfield, jamming up the works in both chambers.
Any bill that passes the Senate at this point would undoubtedly have to go back to the House for a vote on the amendments, and the legislation would face an uncertain future there.
The legislation explained and lawmakers’ concerns
The bill in question is known as a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) bill, designed to allow the Bears to negotiate a locked-in property tax rate with Cook County and Arlington Heights officials at the stadium site.
The Bears have said that such an agreement is an absolute must if they are going to construct a stadium at the site, but many lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle have raised significant concerns. Chicago lawmakers have questioned whether the Bears should be incentivized to leave Chicago, which they’ve called home since the early 1920s.
Those lawmakers have questions over what would happen to Soldier Field, with the Chicago Park District estimating that a renovation project costing more than $600 million would be required to turn the stadium into a music-specific venue on the lakefront to make up for lost revenue with the team leaving the city.
Other lawmakers have expressed concerns that locking in property tax rates could put the onus on other property owners within Cook County to pick up the slack in terms of school funding.
In addition to the PILOT bill, the Bears are also seeking legislation that would free up infrastructure funding to rebuild roads and transit corridors around the Arlington Heights site, with some estimates pegging the amount of money the team is seeking at around $850 million
Dollars owed
Finally, there’s the amount of money still owed on bonds that were issued by the state to help finance the renovation of Soldier Field in the early 2000s. Some estimates peg the amount of money still owed at northward of $350 million, with Pritzker and other lawmakers indicating they would expect that matter to be addressed before new funding is allocated for the team.
In addition, the Bears would owe up to $90 million if they break their lease at Soldier Field before 2033.
Funding sources
The money would come from a variety of funding sources. That would include doubling Lake County’s hotel tax from 5% to 10%. A 1% food and beverage surcharge would be assessed in both Lake and Porter counties. A 12% tax on all tickets purchased to events at the venue would also be assessed. Finally, there would be a special taxing district in Hammond to capture sales and use taxes around the stadium.
Tollway funds would be used to help fund infrastructure improvements around the stadium site.
When will a decision be made?
Any action by the legislature wouldn’t constitute a final decision by the Bears, though it could certainly help chart the course.
The Bears have repeatedly said they want to have a final stadium decision made by late spring or early summer.
