{"id":778284,"date":"2026-05-06T22:58:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T22:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/778284\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T22:58:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T22:58:14","slug":"brandon-johnson-lobbies-springfield-on-bears-stadium-city-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/778284\/","title":{"rendered":"Brandon Johnson lobbies Springfield on Bears stadium, city funding"},"content":{"rendered":"

SPRINGFIELD \u2014 Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson arrived at the state Capitol on Wednesday with an ambitious agenda and three weeks before the General Assembly\u2019s scheduled adjournment as he pressed lawmakers on a sweeping set of priorities \u2014 from pushing the state to increase a critical source of municipal revenue to making a last-ditch effort to keep the Chicago Bears from leaving<\/a> the city.<\/p>\n

Previous efforts by Johnson to get the support he seeks from Springfield<\/a> have gotten middling results at best. But on his third visit<\/a> as mayor to the state capital, Johnson met with an array of legislative leaders, including Democratic House Speaker Emanuel \u201cChris\u201d Welch of Hillside and members of the Black Caucus and Asian American caucuses, as he also attended a Latino Unity Day event on the southern end of town.<\/p>\n

Flanked by his chief of staff, former state Sen. Cristina Pacone-Zayas, and other top aides, Johnson urged lawmakers to increase Chicago\u2019s share of state revenue, advance several new city taxing authorities, and weigh in on legislation that could determine whether the Bears stay in Illinois at all.<\/p>\n

Central to Johnson\u2019s fiscal pitch is a fight over Local Government Distributive Funds, the slice of state income tax receipts distributed to municipalities. Gov. JB Pritzker\u2019s budget proposal would hold those payments flat, which the Illinois Municipal League argues is a de facto cut, reducing the local share of total state income tax receipts from 6.47% to 6.23%. Before 2011, municipalities received 10%. According to figures Johnson presented to reporters earlier this week, Pritzker\u2019s proposal cuts $12.7 million from Chicago. Johnson has said restoring the city\u2019s share by 1 percentage point would generate $80 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe governor\u2019s proposal to cut the Local Government Distributive Fund is detrimental to not just the city of Chicago, but municipalities across the state,\u201d Johnson said Wednesday. \u201cAnd so we want to make sure that we\u2019re capturing full revenue within the Local Government Distributive Fund, especially because at a time in which the federal government continues to erode and undermine the interest, the values of working people, we have to make sure that we\u2019re investing in community safety, because for many municipalities, we rely upon the Local Government Distributive Fund to make those critical investments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite his emphasis, progress on restoring LGDF funding has been limited over the past 15 years, and Johnson acknowledged the difficulty of moving the needle with so little time remaining in the session.<\/p>\n

Beyond LGDF, Johnson\u2019s office is pursuing a range of new revenue measures. He wants a new statewide digital advertising tax<\/a> by granting the authority to pass such levies, which have faced litigation on the East Coast and was proposed last year in Illinois before being dropped to clear the way for a $1.5 billion public transit overhaul.<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s office is also seeking authorization to close an amusement tax resale loophole worth up to $31 million; impose a $1 delivery fee on non-grocery, non-medication purchases that the city projects could raise $151 million; amend tobacco taxation rules; and establish a payroll expense tax on large businesses. The city is also backing progressive Democratic legislation to close tax loopholes and institute a billionaire wealth tax.<\/p>\n

Also pressing was what Johnson called his desire to keep the Bears in Chicago, as the state Senate weighs the so-called megaprojects legislation<\/a> that would incentivize the team to relocate to Arlington Heights.<\/p>\n

The bill, which passed the House 78-32 last month, would allow the Bears to make special payments to local governments in lieu of higher property taxes as part of a bid to build a multibillion-dollar stadium. But the measure has run into complications in the Senate, including questions about whether its property tax relief component is workable for area school districts, residents and the team itself. The Bears are also weighing a move to Hammond after Indiana\u2019s legislature passed a bill earlier this year aimed at luring the franchise across the state line.<\/p>\n

State Rep. Theresa Mah, a Chicago Democrat, sat in on Wednesday\u2019s meeting as they discussed the wide range of issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe mostly heard from him about his perspectives on LGDF and, you know, his desire to keep the Bears in the city, and so you know some issues with the (megaprojects) bill,\u201d she said. \u201cBefore that goes forward in the Senate, (that) there are certain issues that the city wanted to have the senators take a closer look at, making sure the city\u2019s not left out in the discussions about things that benefit them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mah laughed as she said she didn\u2019t want to comment about whether she was \u201csatisfied\u201d with the meeting, but added, \u201cI mean, so, we talked about a lot of things, including the need for progressive revenue.\u201d<\/p>\n

State Rep. Camille Lilly, a Chicago Democrat who also met with Johnson, said she welcomed the mayor\u2019s focus on LGDF, though she acknowledged other mayors are making the same ask and stopped short of predicting success with three weeks left before the General Assembly\u2019s scheduled adjournment.<\/p>\n

As for the Bears, she said Johnson \u201cunderstands all the discussions around the (megaprojects) and he\u2019s willing to entertain those discussions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senate Republican leader John Curran of Downers Grove, speaking at an unrelated news conference earlier in the day, said it was \u201cgreat that the mayor is here\u201d and repeated his standing message that \u201ca strong Chicago is good for Illinois, but a strong Illinois is good for Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he was skeptical of Johnson\u2019s revenue proposals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need more robust job growth and economic investment in Chicago and some of the mayor\u2019s requests would be the opposite, would further reduce economic investment in Chicago, reduce job growth,\u201d Curran said. \u201cIt would be a step backwards not just for Chicago but for the state of Illinois.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s latest Springfield visit comes as his office\u2019s lobbying efforts under the dome have been criticized by even legislative Democrats as ineffective.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, some lawmakers backed legislation that directly ran counter to his agenda, including a bill barring local governments statewide from levying a tax based on employee headcount and another prohibiting municipalities from taxing sports betting.<\/p>\n

Asked whether it was important to visit Springfield earlier in the legislative session, Johnson bristled, challenging reporters to find out what time of year past mayors would come down to the state\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis conversation about what time I come to Springfield, I think it\u2019s quite frankly, I think it\u2019s disingenuous,\u201d he said. \u201cAs the mayor of the city of Chicago, my work does not start and stop in Springfield. We have regular conversations with the speaker of the House, who is a neighbor of mine. The Senate president, who is my state senator \u2026 the governor who lives in Chicago,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThese conversations happen constantly, and you also know that there\u2019s a lot that can happen between now and May 31st.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tribune reporter Alice Yin contributed from Chicago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SPRINGFIELD \u2014 Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson arrived at the state Capitol on Wednesday with an ambitious agenda and…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":778285,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,208502,5386,1818,36234],"class_list":{"0":"post-778284","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-chicago-bears-stadium","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-illinois","12":"tag-mayor-brandon-johnson"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116530112633736904","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=778284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/778285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=778284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=778284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=778284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}