A Chicago Bears stadium bill that would help keep the team in Illinois remains in limbo as lawmakers are set to adjourn their marathon spring legislative session without a vote from the House.
The update comes hours after the Sunday midnight budget deadline, with lawmakers scrambling to find a path forward to keep the Bears in-state. About 4 a.m. Monday, the Illinois Senate voted 37-17 to approve a modified bill that would enable certain Cook County municipalities to create local stadium authorities.
Sen. Bill Cunningham, the modified bill’s sponsor and the sponsor of the original Bears’ “megaprojects” bill, said the bill provides a framework that would “keep the Bears in Illinois.”
During the overtime session, House Speaker Chris Welch said “There’s a lot of work still ahead of us. We’ll continue discussions on a number of issues, including our approach to the Bears stadium question, this summer.”
It wasn’t immediately clear if a special session would be called.
The Chicago Bears released a statement early Monday after lawmakers adjourned their session, passing a $55.9 billion budget that still does not include a plan for the Bears.
“We will finalize our evaluation of both Arlington Heights and Hammond, and remain on the late spring/early summer timeline that we have previously communicated,” the statement said. “We will provide an update when we have a decision to share.”
As the budget heads to Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk to sign, here’s what to know about the Senate’s last ditch-effort to keep the Bears in Illinois.
What does the bill include, and what changed?
The brand new bill emerged late on Sunday following a lengthy day of backroom meetings, committee hearings and legislative debates.
Gone is the earlier PILOT concept, which would have given the Bears the ability to negotiate a payment in lieu of property taxes – potentially saving the team upwards of a billion dollars. The plan effectively died due to the strong opposition of some Democratic state senators from Chicago.
At the center of the new proposal is a publicly-owned stadium – like Soldier Field – and similar to what’s being offered in northwest Indiana. Here’s how it would work:
The Bears would be required to finance the construction of the stadium on their own, but then they would turn it over to a new municipal stadium authority, which would lease the stadium.
There’s a reason for that: a public building would pay zero in property taxes, giving them the property tax certainty they’re seeking. However, the team would have to pay property taxes on the rest of the development.
The bill would narrowly apply to municipalities in Cook County with a population of 70,000 or more – including Arlington Heights and Chicago – and potentially a few more if they choose to jump in.
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Under the legislation, the stadium authority would be able to issue long-term bonds of up to 40 years for stadium construction, infrastructure and renovations. A professional team must commit to a lease of 35 years before bonds can be issued. Along with being fully exempt from property taxes, bonds and interest would be exempt from Illinois income tax.
The measure also establishes a STAR Bond District for retail and entertainment development within one mile of the stadium site, allowing for state sales tax growth to help fund the project, according to the bill. The stadium authority would be granted broad powers including the use of eminent domain to acquire property, the ability to collect revenue for leases, concessions and contracts and the authority to enforce leases, contracts and property agreements.
Cities would have five years to establish a municipal stadium authority.
The house sponsor of the original “megaprojects” bill said he’s open to it, while Illinois Sen. Bill Cunningham, the senate sponsor, said the model has proven to work.
At around 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, Cunningham, the Bears’ “megaprojects” bill senate sponsor, emerged from a meeting empty handed and revealed the bill did not have the votes to pass. So, the plan, which would have given the Bears the ability to pay a negotiated amount of fees to a municipality instead of the full amount of property taxes, effectively died.
The Bears said that such an agreement was an absolute must to construct a stadium in Arlington Heights, but many lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle raised significant concerns. Chicago lawmakers questioned whether the Bears should be incentivized to leave Chicago, which they’ve called home since the early 1920s. Other lawmakers expressed concerns that locking in property tax rates could put the onus on other property owners within Cook County to pick up the slack in terms of school funding.
The negotiations come as Indiana offers the Bears up to $1 billion in incentives to relocate to a site in Hammond. The Hammond location is situated just off the Skyway, basically across the street from Chicago’s Southeast Side. However, detractors said it’s too close to a superfund site and would be expensive to remediate.
NBC 5’s Paris Schutz, Matt Stefanski and Francie Swidler contributed to this story.
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