Post-Session Recap, Part 4: Ongoing Legislative Work
Dear Neighbor,
This newsletter concludes my wrap-up of this spring’s legislative session. After writing you about the state budget, major laws we passed, and some of my big victories, today we’ll talk about what didn’t get over the finish line this year.
Let’s start with a topic we’ve heard an awful lot about this year: the Bears.
You may recall that in April, the House passed a bill about property taxes for “megaprojects” that would have given the Bears a framework to negotiate with Arlington Heights. The Senate refused to take up that measure. They sent us back a package at 3am on the last night of session that wasn’t what the Bears, Chicago, or Arlington Heights asked for.
The Bears are now saying they’re moving forward with a stadium in Hammond. They’re planning to get a roughly $1 billion subsidy from the taxpayers of Indiana for the deal.
My honest feeling is: for that kind of money, let them go. I’m happy to negotiate with the team about how to keep them in Chicago — I’d love for them to stay! We can negotiate about their property tax bill! If they need help with public infrastructure improvements around a stadium site, let’s talk! But they’re not getting billions of dollars from our state’s operating accounts to build a shiny new stadium.
We also got closer than ever to passing a bill creating a Prescription Drug Affordability Board to hold down high drug costs in our state. States are pioneering these “PDABs” as ways to keep prices down for consumers and save money in their state budgets. Our bill passed the House but it’s still pending in the Senate. We’re going to put on the full-court press to get this called and passed when the legislature reconvenes in November.
And then there’s the issue of taxing the rich. As I mentioned in my first email of this series, we balanced this year’s state budget with new fees on social media companies and crypto transactions. But we still have this fundamental problem that the state has a flat income tax. Everyone in Illinois pays 4.95% of their income in taxes, no matter how much they make.
This may seem fair — everyone pays the same, right? But all of our other taxes, especially the sales tax, are regressive. If you and I buy the same phone, but you’re a millionaire and I’m a legislator, we pay the same amount in sales tax, but it’s a bigger percentage of my income than it is of yours.
On balance, our flat income tax coupled with our sales and property taxes make Illinois’s tax system one of the most unfair in the country.
I still believe we need to amend the state constitution so that millionaires pay a higher rate of tax than the rest of us. Years ago, we considered a referendum for a constitutional amendment on that topic, but we couldn’t get it passed. I’m going to keep fighting for that as long as I’m in the legislature.
That’s a wrap on the 2026 spring session! If you have any questions about specific issues, bills, or ideas you’d like to discuss, don’t hesitate to reach out. Now that session is over, you’ll see a lot more of me here in the neighborhood; stay tuned here for updates on all the events we’re participating in throughout the summer.
Take care,
-Will