SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — The 2026 session kicks off next week, and Illinois House leaders are already sharing some of their top priorities.
House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch (D-Hillside) told an audience at City Club Chicago that lawmakers need to address rising homeowner and auto insurance rates.Â
State senators passed a bill in October to protect homeowners from excessive rate increases and ensure transparency for customers, but the plan failed to pass out of the House before the end of veto session. The plan would require insurance companies to give homeowners at least 60 days' notice before nonrenewal, changes in coverage, or premium increases of 10% or more.
Welch said his caucus also needs to pass a balanced budget despite major cuts in federal funding to Illinois for childcare and family assistance. The top House Democrat stressed his caucus will not pass any plan to help the Chicago Bears this spring.
"We're trying to bring down the cost of living," Welch said. "Talking about a brand new Bears stadium when this one is not even 25 years old is insensitive to what real people are going through right now."
House GOP Leader Tony McCombie (R-Savanna) agrees that lawmakers need to address affordability for Illinoisans. However, she said that it should start with lower taxes and significant cuts to spending.
"He had an opportunity with the influx of federal dollars to actually do real tax reform and lower our corporate tax, look at our taxes holistically," McCombie said. "Yet, they chose not to do that. They put that in new spending."
Speaker Welch suggested lawmakers could also look at ways to improve the SAFE-T Act this spring. Many Republicans have called for changes to pretrial detention, but their ideas have been ignored by the majority party.
"We have repeat offenders continuously repeat offending," McCombie said. "It's time that we, not only as Republicans, but as a General Assembly, put the victims before we do criminals."
Both leaders know lawmakers need to pass a pension reform plan soon. Welch said Illinois needs to address the state's revenue problem, but argued there are multiple ways to tackle the issue.
"We should tax millionaires very similar to the way they do it in Massachusetts, a surcharge tax," Welch said. "We've tested that twice on the ballot, and people support a surcharge tax on millionaires."
The Illinois Senate is scheduled to start session Tuesday while the House will convene Jan. 20.Â
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