State lawmakers passed more than 400 bills over the last five months, but the spring legislative session that concluded over the weekend will be remembered more for what legislators didn’t get done before the clock ran out.
The hectic final hours in Springfield saw legislators scrambling to get a $55.2 billion budget over the finish line before a midnight deadline, leaving little political bandwidth to rescue Chicago-area transit agencies from a fast-approaching fiscal doomsday, or agree on a plan to boost renewable energy sources. And they extended the Bears’ losing streak at the Capitol in the team’s quest for a new stadium.
Here’s a look at what Gov. JB Pritzker, Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, state Senate President Don Harmon and their Democratic supermajorities did and didn’t get done.
Passed a budget with deep cuts to immigrant health care
The Health Benefits for Immigrant Adults program was among the casualties of a tough budget year amid uncertainty in federal funding under President Donald Trump. The state expects to save more than $330 million by cutting health coverage for 33,000 people in Illinois without legal status, including 22,000 in Cook County.
Progressives opposed to the cuts still voted for the budget. A similar program for those over 65 was preserved at $110 million.
Doubled down on taxes for sportsbooks, smokers
To help bridge a $1 billion shortfall, lawmakers signed off on some $800 million in tax increases, including hikes that will hit smokers and large online sportsbooks like DraftKings and FanDuel.
Taxes were boosted from 36% to 45% on most tobacco and nicotine products including e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches.
And the sportsbooks will be taxed a quarter for each of the first 20 million wagers they accept and $0.50 per bet beyond that. It’s the second big tax slapped on the nascent sports betting industry after Democrats levied heightened graduated taxes on their revenue last year.
Bettors won’t pay the tax, but costs could be passed onto gamblers through less favorable odds — who could be incentivized to switch to illegal sportsbooks, according to leaders of the industry that raked in $1.2 billion before taxes last year in Illinois.
Missed the bus on mass transit reform
As the CTA, Metra and Pace brace for a $771 million fiscal cliff next year with federal COVID-19 relief dollars expiring, the Illinois Senate passed a measure that would put the agencies under new oversight and provide $1 billion through a $1.50 tax on food and package deliveries.
Lawmakers seemed to mostly agree on the governance of the agencies under a strengthened Northern Illinois Transit Authority, but the House adjourned without taking up the reform bill or its taxing mechanism labeled by opponents as a “pizza tax.”
They could return to Springfield for a special session to address the transit crisis ahead of their usual fall veto session. But bills passed after June 1 require a higher threshold of three-fifths to pass out of either house of the General Assembly.
Powered down energy bill
Legislators went home without agreeing on how to encourage more renewable energy production as the state faces a potential power shortage with the rise of big data centers and the huge amounts of electricity they require.
A bill intended to boost large energy batteries lost momentum on the final day of session amid business opponents who claimed it would be too expensive.
Punted on bill that would help Bears’ stadium drive
The Bears lost again in their bid for legislation that would allow them and leaders of other so-called “megadevelopments” to negotiate payments with local taxing bodies in lieu of property taxes, which would make it more affordable for them to break ground on a stadium in Arlington Heights.
Pritzker has opposed state help for the Bears but said he’d support megadevelopment legislation as long as it’s not only for the team. Suburban lawmakers said they’ll try again in the fall.
