Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – There is a budget bill for lawmakers to debate and vote on Sunday, but the discussion over how to keep the Chicago Bears in Illinois took up far more oxygen Saturday.
A House-passed bill, said State Sen. Bill Cunningham (D-Chicago) late Saturday, is a non-starter in the Senate. “I think it’s fair to say that the proposal that the Bears have on the table right now regarding a mega-project bill and a PILOT payment does not have sufficient support to pass the General Assembly.”
In short, the Bears are not asking for a free stadium, but the team does want the ability to negotiate property taxes with the village of Arlington Heights, where the team owns land. PILOT stands for “payment in lieu of taxes.”
It’s become clear that the bill which passed the House is too unwieldy to survive the Senate, and the only hope is to pass a far smaller bill. “This is too late in the session to do a statewide mega-projects bill, where you don’t know what might be going in there,” said Senate Minority Leader John Curran (R-Downers Grove) at a news conference earlier Saturday evening.
Another senator at that news conference, Seth Lewis (R-Bartlett) confirmed that he would rather the Bears move to Hammond, Ind., than force Illinoisans’ property taxes up to keep the team in the state.
The legislature plans to adjourn Sunday.
