Deadline approaching for Illinois lawmakers to pass budget bill aimed at keeping Bears in Illinois
Time is ticking for Illinois lawmakers to pass a bill aimed at keeping the Chicago Bears in the state.
Legislators need to get the votes required to pass the so-called "megaprojects bill" and get it to Governor J.B. Pritzker's desk.
Those discussions are underway and will continue through Sunday, with some lawmakers in Springfield talking about potential significant changes to the bill, as they hope to avoid fumbling this chance to keep the team here in Illinois.
Republicans say their concerns are over the bill's potential impacts on property owners.
"In order to boost economic investment in the state, and keeping our proud NFL franchise, we can't punish property taxpayers in the area," said Majority Leader Senator John Curran.
GOP legislators are signaling a potential major change to the bill, saying they feel the only way for the legislation to be approved by Sunday night's deadline is to focus only on the Bears stadium and not include language for other statewide projects.
"This is too late in the session to do a statewide megaprojects bill where you don't know what might be going in there," Curran said. "This is too late in the session for that, so at this point you would be looking at just the Bears."
Chicago-area Democrats entered the weekend optimistic of reaching a deal, with hopes of securing the Bears' future in Illinois.
"The Bears will make the choice that makes the most sense for them and their organization, but what I want to make sure is that they are very clear that where they belong is here in the state of Illinois and not in Indiana," said Rep. Kam Buckner.
On top of all the Bears talk, the legislature still has to pass the state budget.
The deadline is Sunday night at midnight, and that's partly why the Bears bill has not made much progress so far.
There was some progress. Lawmakers were able to send some legislation for Gov. Pritzker's signature.
Among them, property tax reform, which was praised tonight by Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Treasurer Maria Pappas. Also passing was a bill to rename the Cook County portion of I-57 the Jesse L. Jackson Senior Expressway. That bill is also awaiting the governor's signature.
