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Speaker Welch says keeping Bears Stadium in Illinois important
The Illinois General Assembly, House and Senate, did not pass the key stadium bill before adjourning last week as public concern focused on proposals to pass tax breaks for the Bears organization which is extremely profitable and earned more than $600 million last year, according to published records.
Illinois House Speaker Emanuel Chris Welch released a statement on Friday detailing how the state House will approach the issue. That followed the failure of the legislature to adopt a new plan.
Another key factor that caused pause for legislators was an in-depth, 13-page analysis completed by Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas, a champion defending the rights of Cook County property taxpayers.
The Pappas report warned that pending Illinois “mega-projects” legislation could cost taxpayers up to $1.5 billion over 40 years in property tax breaks. The bill aimed to freeze tax assessments to help build the Chicago Bears’ $5 billion stadium in Arlington Heights.
Click here to read the Pappas Report on the Chicago Bears.
“In April, the House passed an economic development package that was the product of extensive negotiation with the Bears and other stakeholders. That bipartisan legislation reflected our belief that we can incentivize statewide development and provide property tax relief for working people,” Welch said.
“While Indiana is willing to raise taxes and promise $1 billion in taxpayer funds, Illinois has focused on the needs of working families who want relief at the gas pump, at the store, and on their insurance bills—not taxpayer-funded stadiums.”
Legislators could not agree on a bailout plan for the Bears given the public criticism and taxpayer concerns, and other proposals that included:
- Creating local stadium authorities in places like Arlington Heights or Chicago.
- Allowing a publicly owned stadium model, where the Bears would build and finance the stadium but lease it back from a public authority.
- Giving the team long-term property tax certainty and potentially reducing the property tax burden on the stadium itself.
- Creating financing mechanisms tied to future development around the stadium site, such as retail, entertainment, hotels, and other surrounding projects.
The Illinois Senate passed a version of the Bears stadium legislation by a 37–17 vote, but the legislation fell short in the Illinois House.
The proposal was viewed as Illinois’ response to Indiana’s effort to lure the Bears to Hammond. The Bears are currently evaluating both their Arlington Heights site and Hammond, Indiana, and have said they expect to make a decision soon.
For Illinois taxpayers, the key point is that the final proposal did not involve the state writing a direct multibillion-dollar check for stadium construction. Instead, it focused on tax treatment, stadium authorities, and development financing around the project.
Read columnist Ray Hanania’s column on the Bears bailout plan by clicking this link:
https://hanania.substack.com/p/bear-down-chicago-bears-in-the-home
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Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.
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