SPRINGFIELD — Lawmakers’ effort to keep the Chicago Bears in Illinois entered the fourth quarter Saturday, but the stadium debate was still riding the bench while legislative leaders wrangled over the state budget that needs to be passed by their Sunday night deadline.
With some 28 hours left in the spring legislative session, supermajority Democrats were considering potential new taxes on digital advertising, prediction markets, cryptocurrency and fantasy sports to help make ends meet on a roughly $56 million spending plan.
The same midnight cutoff loomed for the Bears and legislators trying to throw them a block en route to Arlington Heights instead of Indiana, where the team has secured a lucrative, taxpayer-backed deal to build a dome in Hammond.
Democrats who control the Capitol routinely take budget talks up until the final minutes of the legislative clock, but signs of progress were scant in property-tax incentive talks for the Bears as the hours wound down.
“There’s still time,” said state Sen. Bill Cunningham, the South Side Democrat leading his chamber’s stadium discussions.
But Gov. JB Pritzker, Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch and Senate President Don Harmon emphasized they weren’t preoccupied with the Bears’ property tax concerns during a marathon conclusion to the session that figured to have lawmakers burning the midnight oil.
“I’m focused on the budget. That is the most important thing,” Pritzker said after an hourlong meeting with Welch and Harmon on Friday evening.
The three most powerful men in Springfield met again Saturday morning but didn’t tip their hands beyond tempered optimism regarding budget negotiations.
Bears’ PILOT bill languishes
For over three years, the team has sought legislation that would allow them to negotiate discounted payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) with local governments in order to slash property taxes that could top $100 million on the dome they’d like to build in Arlington Heights.
The Illinois House passed a bill last month that would divert half of PILOT payments to broader tax relief programs for average homeowners, though analyses suggest benefits would be scant.
The Senate is expected to overhaul that bill, which would apply to any company investing in a “megaproject” valued at $100 million or more.
Lawmakers are considering narrowing down the legislation to only apply to the Arlington Heights site the Bears closed on in 2023 — a tough sell for Chicago lawmakers who, at the very least, are seeking investments in Soldier Field and the Museum Campus in exchange for signing off the team’s suburban migration.
“We have to make sure that the city of Chicago is getting something out of this,” said state Sen. Robert Peters, whose South Side district includes the Bears’ current home.
Minority Leader John Curran, R-Downers-Grove, said his side of the aisle was ready to support “the right” bill, but the only option was a Bears-only bill that helps the team move to Arlington Heights. Cunningham said all options were “still at play.”
Team officials in Springfield for the close of session were still optimistic about a deal, which inevitably would be far less generous than the $1 billion-plus that Hoosier lawmakers have committed to a stadium for the Bears in Hammond.
Jason Lee, senior adviser to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson — who made a Hail Mary pitch this month to keep the Bears in city limits — was in the Capitol for the final drive.
Would they be able to scuttle a move to Arlington Heights? “Your guess is as good as mine,” Lee said.
New taxes on the table
Stadium talks were taking up session bandwidth behind closed doors at the same time as budget negotiations. Democratic caucuses were still weighing a menu of potential sources to balance a spending plan expected to land around $56 billion, including Pritzker’s proposed tax on social media companies and other new taxes on digital advertising, prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket, plus cryptocurrency and fantasy sports.
Those ideas, vehemently opposed by numerous business and industry interests, would figure to face court challenges like the city-level social media tax levied in Chicago has, so revenue estimates wouldn’t be inked into the budget.
Lawmakers were also considering upping sales taxes on candy, soda and tobacco, while decoupling from federal business tax breaks among other options to generate more money.
Republicans opposed the new tax proposals, saying it would stifle the state’s growth.
“Healthy states don’t need new taxes,” said Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, “Why? Because they’re growing.”
Full budget bills had not been introduced by Saturday evening, though legislators filed a bill earlier this month outlining more than $53 billion in spending.
Time was running out for other bills, including further regulations on artificial intelligence companies, limits to local zoning regulations in an effort to bolster affordable housing, and a moratorium on introducing new data centers to the state.