Illinois House lays out new version of Bears megaprojects bill
Keeping the Chicago Bears in Illinois is a major priority for some lawmakers, and overnight Tuesday into Wednesday, more steps were taken in Springfield.
The lawmakers are pursuing "megaprojects" legislation, HB910, which would allow the Bears, or any developer of "megaprojects" that have a more than $500 million investment, to negotiate property taxes directly with local governments for up to 40 years.
Some changes to the bill have come down overnight and within the last 24 hours. House Democrats in Springfield laid out a new version after hours of closed-door meetings on Tuesday.
New measures would allow the Bears and other megaproject developers to negotiate long-term Payments in Lieu of Taxes, or PILOT, with local taxing bodies rather than paying regular property taxes.
A total of 50% of the revenues from those payments would go toward property tax relief. Of that fund, 60% would go toward property tax rebates for homeowners within the district where the megaproject is located, while the other 40% would go toward the existing Illinois Property Tax Relief Fund.
The bill would also ban megaproject incentives from being used by data centers, and would include a sunset clause, under which incentives would expire after five years unless renewed.
CBS News Chicago on Wednesday morning spoke with Illinois state Rep. Kam Buckner (D-Chicago), who filed hundreds of pages of amendments when it comes to the megaprojects bill. He said the bill is about more than just the Bears.
"We needed to create a streamlined, modernized statewide mechanism for megaprojects, huge developments across Illinois," said Buckner. "Obviously, a lot of folks are talking about the Bears in Arlington Heights. But this is bigger than that. This is creating the framework so that we can have development come to our state."
The approval timeline for the advancement of the legislation depends on an Illinois House of Representatives committee vote as soon as Wednesday.
If the full state House passes the legislation too, it would still need state Senate approval and the final green light from Gov. JB Pritzker.
The Bears bought the old Arlington International Racecourse property in Arlington Heights, Illinois, years ago with plans to build a new domed stadium there. Gov. Pritzker and other state lawmakers have been vocal about not providing the NFL team with public funds and tax breaks to fund the stadium.
There have been dueling proposals ever since, with some fighting to keep the Bears in Chicago proper, others fighting to help the stadium get built in Arlington Heights,. But recently, Northwest Indiana has jumped into the fray, proposing sites for a new Bears stadium in Hammond.
Indiana state legislators recently passed their own bill to create a stadium authority to fund a new stadium in Hammond for the Bears using taxpayer dollars.
