(CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Two subjects which may pop up during month’s fall veto session were on Gov. JB Pritzker’s mind this week.
“I’m deeply concerned about intoxicating hemp,” Pritzker told reporters at an unrelated Chicago event, “and we are going to have to do something, either legislatively or from the executive branch, to stop the sale of intoxicating hemp without any regulation whatsoever in this state.
“It literally is making our children sick.”
Hemp regulation has remained a piece of unfinished business in Springfield, and for those who may have missed it, the governor reiterated his stance.
“It is a shame on legislators and on this state that we are not already doing something about it. We need help from the legislature to make it happen, or, if not, we may need to impose executive authority to try to shut those sales of intoxicating hemp down.”
And now that the Chicago Bears’ latest stadium statement is to commit to building on land the team owns in Arlington Heights – the former Arlington Park race track – Pritzker said he has not had any talks with the team in a long time, and he is not that interested in sending public dollars the team’s way, anyway.
“First, we need the Bears to pay off what’s owed on the existing stadium,” Pritzker said, referring to a massive public renovation of Soldier Field earlier this century. “So that’s going to be a really important feature of whatever happens going forward, and, if they want a (payment in lieu of taxes) bill or some other help, we are going to make that a prerequisite for something like that happening.”
The economic development tool to which the governor is referring, PILOT, is the authority for the team to work out payments to Arlington Heights as the Bears seek tax breaks from the village.
