Pritzker’s spring wins come with caveats as BUILD, megaprojects bills stall

SPRINGFIELD — Over his 7½ years in office, Gov. JB Pritzker has largely gotten his way in the Democratic-supermajority Illinois General Assembly.

As he campaigns for a third term as Illinois’ chief executive and weighs a possible 2028 Democratic presidential bid, Pritzker emerged from the spring legislative session once again achieving many but not all the goals he laid out in his State of the State address in February.

But there were some high-profile caveats that underscored the limits of his clout among his fellow Democrats who run the state legislature.

The governor was unable to muscle through the most far-reaching elements of his top legislative initiative: Building Up Illinois Developments, or BUILD — a comprehensive plan to spur homebuilding and drive down housing costs.

And he didn’t land the plane on a long-sought megaprojects bill that would have enabled the Chicago Bears to negotiate and lock in a lower property tax payment on a stadium in Arlington Heights. Its failure could result in the Monsters of the Midway hiking across the Indiana state line to a former industrial site near Wolf Lake in Hammond.

Lawmakers also failed to approve a pause Pritzker sought in the state’s data center tax credit, leading the governor to take executive action to freeze the program.

Asked during a news conference after the session adjourned why some of his high-profile initiatives stalled in the General Assembly this spring, Pritzker argued that major policy wins often take years to materialize.

“I’ve proposed bills that may not have passed this session, but remember: A whole lot of things, and in fact, I made a list for myself so I could remind you all, a whole lot of things that were important take years to get done,” Pritzker said, proceeding to list his policy wins.

Indeed, many of the governor’s policy achievements this session were multi-year efforts, from granting the state more regulatory power to review homeowners’ and auto insurance rates to bans on junk fees and students’ use of cellphones in the classroom.

And Pritzker said what’s past will be prologue, promising to keep fighting for BUILD and a solution that results in the Bears building their new stadium in Illinois.

“Absolutely, I’m going to be campaigning on this,” Pritzker said of BUILD. “So, yes, it’s a political issue. I believe that we need to do even more about housing in this state.”

BUILD falters

There was no initiative Pritzker fought harder for this year than BUILD. He promoted the plan on his social media accounts nearly every week, penned op-eds, hosted roundtables and appeared in social media videos with real estate influencers, among several methods.

His political operation also boosted the “yes in my backyard” plan in a paid advertising campaign on social media platforms, a tactic that highlighted the Pritzker campaign’s belief that it would be good politics on top of good policy.

“Oh no, I mean, are you kidding me?” Pritzker said when asked if BUILD would be an election-year liability for him. “The question is, do you want to elect somebody who’s actually for building more housing or somebody who doesn’t have any plan at all?”

But the merits of the centerpiece policies of BUILD fell on deaf ears in Springfield.

Perhaps most controversial was a proposed statewide zoning law that would have permitted multi-unit housing by right on nearly all properties zoned for residential use. The aim was to spur the development of more “middle housing” such as two-flats, townhomes and fourplexes.

The plan also called for the legalization of accessory dwelling units on all land zoned for residential use and establishing statewide timelines for inspections and reviews and allowing third-party inspectors if municipalities miss deadlines.

The plan was supported by the state’s real estate industry but fiercely opposed by the Illinois Municipal League, the organization representing the state’s cities and villages.

The Illinois AFL-CIO also opposed the proposals, especially the third-party review component. The statewide labor organization viewed it as a “nonstarter” because it would allow work traditionally performed by government employees — often unionized workers — to be outsourced.

As they poured through hours of testimony on the BUILD plan in hearings this spring, a bipartisan cadre of state lawmakers, many products of municipal government, expressed concerns about the preemption of local control and the one-size-fits-all nature of the proposal. Many said they hoped for a more collaborative approach, including input from local government leaders.

“I applaud the governor’s office for making an attempt,” said Sen. Cristina Castro, D-Elgin, who chairs the Senate Executive Committee, during a hearing in the waning days of spring session. “And I mean it genuinely because I think there’s a lot of people in this room that want to solve this problem and see a holistic approach to it. But I also feel like we have to work together.”

That said, BUILD wasn’t a total bust. Pritzker secured $250 million in capital funding for grant programs that assist housing developers with sewer, stormwater, utility and other site prep work; fund middle housing development, and provide down payment and closing cost assistance to those who have faced institutional barriers to home ownership.

It was the least controversial aspect of the program, not touching delicate topics like local zoning control or replacing unionized labor.

Megaprojects falters

Pritzker’s desire to add a megaprojects mechanism to the state’s economic development toolkit long predates the Bears’ pursuit of a domed stadium in Arlington Heights. He’s often noted that 38 other states have some form of negotiated property tax payment for large developments.

But on the penultimate day of the spring session, Sen. Bill Cunningham, D-Chicago, delivered the bad news: The megaprojects concept, a version of which passed the House in April, did not have enough support to pass the Senate.

The immediate focus was on the Bears, who announced last week that their board of directors “voted to advance” a stadium development in Hammond, Indiana.

But the governor, a former businessman who’s fashioned himself as the state’s chief marketing officer, warned that Illinois is “behind the curve” on the broader issue.

“They’ve always been negotiating about property taxes all across the country,” Pritzker said of large developments. “It’s just in Illinois where we have had a disorganized, dysfunctional endeavor forever, and now we’re trying to organize it and make it work, so that businesses will want to come.”

But the prospects of the tool being resurrected appear grim. Undoubtedly, there were Bears-specific concerns with the bill. But the statewide deployment of the tool, the potential impact it would have on revenue to local governments, and the property tax burden on surrounding residents and businesses may have done more to sink the bill.

And unlike BUILD, Pritzker took a more hands-off approach to megaprojects, putting together the “scaffolding of a deal” as he told reporters in April. But, a few weeks later in the waning days of the spring session, Pritzker said the bill was “in the legislature’s hands.”

In their hands, it died. Cunningham said the common sentiment in the Senate was that the megaprojects tool “further breaks an already broken property tax system.”

On the flip side of the coin, Sen. Seth Lewis, R-Bartlett, said Pritzker “did not show the Bears organization any sense of urgency or desire that lawmakers want to keep one of this state’s top economic engines in Illinois.”

“During this process we saw a complete lack of leadership by the governor, and if the Bears do indeed move to Indiana, it is a devastating loss, both economically and emotionally, that the Governor will own,” he said.

Other losses

Beyond BUILD and megaprojects, Pritzker also came up short once again in his effort to allow some community colleges to offer four-year baccalaureate degrees.

Lawmakers also rejected Pritzker’s proposal to reduce the percentage of income taxes local governments receive from the Local Government Distributive Fund flat. Instead, the share remains the same and, because of increased income tax receipts, LGDF will increase this budget year.

And lawmakers did not take up legislation reforming the state’s data center policies despite Pritzker’s urging. A specific proposal, House Bill 5513, known as the POWER Act, would have required data centers to pay for and supply their own renewable energy, track and report water usage and enter community benefits agreements with municipalities.

But the advocates behind the bill accused the governor’s office of failing to engage on the issue, which never received a floor vote.

As a result, Pritzker unilaterally directed the state’s Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to pause all new state tax incentives for data centers “while we continue working with the General Assembly and stakeholders on a comprehensive framework that protects affordability, safeguards our natural resources, and ensures responsible growth across Illinois.”

From 2020-24, there were 27 data centers that benefited by more than $983 million in promised tax relief from these incentives, according to a state report.

“These complex legislative issues take time, and I do think we’re going to eventually get there,” said House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside. “And when we get there, it’s going to be done right.”

Legislative wins

But Pritzker didn’t strike out this legislative session. In fact, the governor got much of what he asked for.

A two-year effort to ban junk fees ­— the charges added to the total cost of ticketed events, hotels, tech and other goods and services — finally bore fruit this session.

The bill, which would make it unlawful for any business to advertise, display or offer a price for goods or services that do not include all mandatory fees or surcharges before taxes, now just needs Pritzker’s signature.

And after falling short last year on one of the centerpieces of his 2025 State of the State address, Pritzker last month secured legislative approval of a ban on students using cellphones during class time.

And after stalling in last year’s fall session, legislation giving the state’s Department of Insurance authority to regulate premiums for homeowners and auto insurance got the green light. Pritzker first called for the homeowners insurance bill last summer after Bloomington-based State Farm Insurance, one of the largest homeowners’ carriers in the nation, announced a 27.2% average rate increase across the state.

The governor was also successful in pushing a pair of social media initiatives. One would impose a tax on social media companies based on the number of users the platform has in Illinois. Another would require social media companies to verify a child’s age on the device’s operating system and use stricter features for minors like limiting location-sharing and nighttime notifications.

The state’s fiscal year 2027 spending plan also largely matches the blueprint Pritzker outlined in February, including raising revenue through the social media tax and lowering the cap on corporate net operating loss deductions for business. But it avoided incorporating more far-reaching revenue proposals pitched by progressives.

Programs championed by Pritzker, including the Dolly Parton Imagination Library and the Illinois Medical Debt Relief Program, also continued to be funded.

Lawmakers also authorized the two-year extension of the state’s pension buyout program. Though created during Gov. Bruce Rauner’s tenure, Pritzker has supported its extension three times now. Thus far, about $2 billion buyout payments have resulted in about a $2.6 billion reduction in the state’s long-term pension liabilities.

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