00:00It's time now for our Muni moments, and we start with Illinois passing a record-setting $56 billion budget for
00:06the 2027 fiscal year as Governor J.B. Pritzker prepares for potential federal funding cuts.
00:13Let's bring in Bloomberg's Shruti Singh for more now and set the scene for us. I mean, talk to us
00:19about the significance of this passage.
00:22So the Illinois budget is closely watched because from 2015 to 2017, the state had a budget impasse with the
00:30prior governor and didn't have a budget enacted.
00:34And so the passage of the Illinois budget is something that is watched closely by taxpayers as well as investors.
00:40So Governor J.B. Pritzker came into office in about 2019, and since then, the state has passed budgets on
00:46time.
00:47And but it comes down to the wire. This one was passed on the deadline overnight from Sunday into Monday
00:53morning.
00:54The deadline to pass a budget by a simple majority was May 31st, which was Sunday, and they worked through
01:00the night to pass this budget.
01:02And I want to talk through some of the different factors that led to this passage, because I believe the
01:08Chicago Bears somehow played a role here.
01:11Just explain that to me.
01:13Sure. So the spring legislative session is a key time when the legislature passes or votes on the budget.
01:21This spring session, there was also another related, but not an item that was part of the actual budget, but
01:28something that lawmakers were considering.
01:30The Chicago Bears over the last four years have been actively looking to see where their next home might be.
01:37They've been playing for in Soldier Field for decades.
01:39They're looking to build a new stadium. A couple of different options that they've laid out are over the last
01:45several years,
01:46they've been looking at either the city of Chicago building something new along the lakefront or at a site that
01:52they own in Arlington Heights,
01:54which is a suburb of Chicago. Most recently, over the last few months, they've also been looking at a site
01:59in northwest Indiana.
02:01The Indiana legislature did already pass an incentive package.
02:05Illinois lawmakers have been negotiating and talking about what they want to do for the better part of the last
02:12two to three years.
02:13This was something that was taken up in the fall session, but then also came up again in the spring
02:18session,
02:18because no deal has been struck that's officially been voted on or enacted.
02:23So this spring session, there was a couple of different items that were brought up.
02:27One was passed by the House that took a look at property taxes for this particular site that the Bears
02:33are looking at in suburban Arlington Heights.
02:35The Senate on the other side was looking at something where they could create a financing authority for individual municipalities
02:43in Illinois.
02:44Now, the House passed its bill, the Senate passed its bill, but the two chambers have not voted on each
02:50other's bills.
02:51And so that was the challenge, and so nothing has moved forward.
02:54The Bears have said they will make a decision probably sometime later this summer in terms of where they want
03:00to go from here.
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