Northwest suburban officials were in Springfield on Wednesday for continuing closed-door discussions on Bears stadium property tax break legislation, and some of them may get time in front of the cameras and microphones Thursday when the bill is heard for the first time in committee.
Among those already at the state Capitol are Arlington Heights Village Manager Randy Recklaus, Rolling Meadows City Manager Rob Sabo and Meet Chicago Northwest tourism bureau President/CEO Heather Larson. They’re downstate as part of a local lobbying push for so-called megaproject legislation that would pave the way to a Bears stadium at the former Arlington Park racetrack in Arlington Heights.
They and other officials may be called to testify during an 8 a.m. Thursday hearing in the House Revenue and Finance Committee. House Bill 2789, sponsored by Democratic state Rep. Mary Beth Canty of Arlington Heights, is one of 15 bills on the committee’s docket.
The long-stalled legislation would allow the Bears to negotiate directly with local taxing bodies over the amount of taxes that should be paid on at least a portion of the sprawling property for up to 40 years. The team has argued such tax “certainty” is needed to secure financing for construction of a $2 billion privately owned domed stadium.
Gov. JB Pritzker didn’t mention the team or the legislation during his annual State of the State and budget address to a joint session of the House and Senate on Wednesday. But high stakes negotiations over a stadium deal continued behind the scenes involving the major players and their teams of assembled consultants, including Pritzker’s staff, legislators from both chambers, Bears brass and Arlington Heights officials.
Those talks are said not only to be about the tax break legislation, but also what becomes of the 2003 Soldier Field renovation debt totaling more than $500 million, for which taxpayers remain on the hook.
Taking questions from reporters later Wednesday afternoon in his office, Pritzker was asked how close to a deal they are.
“We continue to have those conversations,” he said. “I think progress has been made.”
He lent his support to the megaproject bill, but has continued to characterize it as an economic development tool that would benefit any big company expanding in or relocating to Illinois.
“This is an important thing for the Bears, just like it would be for another private business,” Pritzker said. “This deal … has to be good for the taxpayers. This has to create enough economic opportunity. It has to create enough economic growth that the taxes that come from that over the years are good for the state as well as lots of jobs and opportunity.”
The parties have been meeting almost daily on Zoom in recent days, and regularly since mid-December, when team President/CEO Kevin Warren decried a lack of “legislative partnership” in Springfield and announced the expansion of the team’s stadium search to Northwest Indiana.
Lawmakers in Illinois have been pressured by legislative movement in Indiana, where the Senate quickly approved Bears-friendly legislation in late January. The bill — which would create a public authority to acquire land, issue bonds, build a stadium, and lease it to the Bears — is now pending in a House committee.
Legislators in Indianapolis are set to adjourn at the end of next week, while their counterparts in Illinois are in session until May 31.
Witness slips — online forms expressing support and opposition to the Illinois bill — have been pouring in ahead of the committee hearing Thursday.
Arlington Heights Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jon Ridler made a public pitch for people to fill out proponent witness slips in an email blast and attached video to chamber members. About 400 or so have registered their support of the bill, including Northwest Suburban High School District Superintendent Scott Rowe, Palatine Township Elementary District 15 Superintendent Laurie Heinz and Cook County Commissioner Scott Britton.
Among the 100 registered opponents are John Arena, who is Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s head lobbyist in Springfield, and Brian Costin, deputy state director of Americans for Prosperity Illinois.
https://www.dailyherald.com/20260218/news/progress-has-been-made-northwest-suburban-officials-in-springfield-for-bears-bill-talks/