Delivered via email: April 24, 2026
This Week at the Capitol
Only the House was in session this week. With an extremely busy House third reading deadline last week, any expectation that this week would be uneventful was quickly put to rest. Although neither of the House education committees met this week, the House Revenue Committee and House Executive Committee did meet and passed three significant pieces of legislation.
The first was amendment 3 to HB910, the MegaProject bill, also known as the Bears legislation, because it creates a framework for the Bears to build a new stadium in Arlington Heights. While this legislation passed out of committee back in March, it was never called on the House floor and leadership worked over the past month to address outstanding concerns.
Two joint resolutions for constitutional amendments were also proposed, HJRCA28 addresses redistricting and the other, HJRCA21, introduces a millionaire’s tax. Both the MegaProject bill and the constitutional amendment on redistricting passed out of the House and will now move to the Senate. The millionaire’s tax was not called on the House floor and its future is uncertain.
The House is off next week with the Senate returning to Springfield on April 28. It is unclear when the MegaProject bill will be taken up in the Senate and the extent that additional negotiations will occur there.
MegaProject Bill
The MegaProject legislation does address the Bears new stadium but would also apply to MegaProjects statewide. Some key components of the bill include:
- Incentive Agreement. Allows municipalities to enter into “Incentive Agreements” that obligate the company to make special payments, in addition to paying property taxes during the incentive period. Upon certification as a megaproject from the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO), the company would be eligible for an assessment freeze for property tax purposes.
- MegaProject Length. MegaProjects can be for a term of 25, 30, or 40 years.
- Local Review Board. The municipality may only enter into an Incentive Agreement if it is approved by a majority vote of the Local Review Board. The Local Review Board consists of representatives from the impacted taxing bodies, including school districts. Each taxing body would have a weighted vote. The bill specifies that the Incentive Agreement must address the capital needs of local school districts to meet the demands of new students that result from the MegaProject.
- Property Tax Relief.Property tax relief is a new component of the amendment to this bill. In the previous version of HB910 that passed out of committee, the taxing bodies received all of the special payments. Under amendment 3, the taxing bodies receive 50% of those payments. Of the remaining 50%:
- 60% shall be used for property tax rebates for residential homeowners in taxing districts in which the megaproject is located; and
- 40% shall go into the Illinois Property Tax Relief Fund and be distributed for statewide property tax relief.
Millionaire’s Tax Constitutional Amendment
HJRCA21 is a proposed constitutional amendment that would provide a 3% surcharge on the portion of a taxpayer’s net income that is greater than $1,000,000. The constitutional amendment would require that of the revenue collected, 50% shall be used to provide property tax relief and 50% shall be distributed to school districts on a per pupil basis. In committee, the sponsor testified that the 3% surcharge is anticipated to generate an additional $2.2 billion annually.
Since the measure did not pass the House, it is unlikely to meet the deadline to get a Constitutional Amendment on the ballot. However, the renewed House interest in the millionaire’s tax with language related to school funding and property tax relief is important to note.
Notice to Remedy (SB2914)
IASB is asking members to reach out to their State Representative regarding SB2914, a bill which would shift the decision to issue a Notice to Remedy away from locally elected school board members and to an outside arbitrator. Boards issue a Notice to Remedy to address serious employee misconduct. The bill has already passed out of the Senate. It is important to ensure that Representatives understand the significant impact the bill will have on local school districts.
- A Notice to Remedy is often an early accountability tool that allows districts to address inappropriate conduct promptly.
- Boundary violations can be serious warning signs that require immediate correction and monitoring.
- Early intervention may prevent escalation into more serious misconduct.
- Local school boards need the ability to act quickly to protect students.
- Adding arbitration delays action and creates barriers when student safety concerns arise.
Advocacy Ambassadors
The next monthly Advocacy Ambassadors Meeting is on Friday, May 15 at noon. The session will focus on reviewing the latest action at both the state and federal levels and sharing new advocacy resources to gather member feedback. If you are not yet an Advocacy Ambassador, sign up on the IASB website. To register for this webinar, visit the IASB Events Calendar.
Federal Advocacy Conference
Unprecedented new defense spending in the President’s proposed FY2027 budget makes federal funding for domestic programs such as education anything but certain. Join IASB and school board members from across the nation at the COSSBA Federal Advocacy Conference to learn which programs are most at risk and share the stories of the students in your district to help legislators understand the value of federal funding to Illinois students. We hope you’ll join us in Washington, D.C., September 21-23.