What Will the Senate Do with the Bears Bill?
The Illinois Senate chamber in 2022. (Photo: Chicago Tribune)
As the Illinois Senate returns to Springfield this week, don’t expect a quick resolution on the long-debated Bears/Megaprojects bill, even after Governor JB Pritzker declared last week the process had the “need for speed” to keep the team in Illinois.
But, a spokesman for Senate President Don Harmon says the bill likely won’t be dealt with this week and will bleed into May and the final month of the legislative session.
“We’re going to take a careful look at what the House passed, get input from senators and stakeholders, and make sure we get it right. We have time in the process to do that,” said Harmon spokesman John Patterson.
Some senators say they expect changes from the House bill that passed last week.
“I was surprised at first because it’s got some pieces that were not expected,” said Sen. Mark Walker (D-Arlington Heights), who represents the site of the proposed stadium. “I think the Bears are hopeful that we’re open to negotiation. That’s how I took it. I thought it is relatively positive.”
Other senators are interested at how the caucus will receive the bill that was passed by the House last week.
“I think that we will have a very robust caucus meeting to talk about how we move forward,” Sen. Doris Turner (D-Springfield) told me on the radio Monday. “I think that we have to be very cautious and we have to take time to do our due diligence and make sure that whatever we put out is something that we can all be very proud of and live with no matter what level of government you’re at.”
Sen. Bill Cunningham (D-Chicago) is sponsoring the bill. Senate Democrats did not make him available for an interview Monday.
In an interview Tuesday with WGN-TV, Cunningham made it clear the Senate won’t rush the legislation.
“We talk a lot about deadlines here in Springfield. We’re in business here in Springfield until May 31st,” he said. “I’m hopeful we’ll get to something before that deadline. Getting it right is more important than getting it done quickly.”
After Harmon told reporter ten days ago he has a “hard time” balancing the Bears property tax issue with property tax certainty for homeowners, Walker said he agreed with Harmon’s position.
It’s frustrating because that’s a tough nut to crack. It is,” Walker said. “If we’re going to have to figure out a way to feed more money into schools so that we can ask them to, at least for their part, not take as much in property tax. That’s that’s the overall the best idea. But, you know, that’s fairly complex. And it’s hard to get any local government to take less.”
But don’t expect a quick resolution and for the saga to drag on, at least for a few more weeks.
“I don’t think that there’s any urgency for the Senate to take it up in the next couple of days and pass something very quickly,” Turner said. I think that we’re going to take some time to look at it, kind of dissect it, and see where we are. But I’m pretty sure that we’ll be able to get something over the finish line in a reasonable amount of time.”
An economic development provision for downtown Springfield, supported by Turner, was included in the House bill. She says she’s hopeful the STAR bond provision for Springfield remains in the legislation.
