Power drain panic: Amid soaring consumer costs state looks for solutions for data center business

Illinois consumer advocacy groups are demanding action as electricity bills rise and data centers use an increasing amount of power. But data center operators warn unfavorable state policies, combined with an existing biometric privacy law, could drive them away from Illinois to places like Wisconsin or Indiana.

Gabriel Castilho
Medill Illinois News Bureau / Capitol News Illinois

SPRINGFIELD - The debate over how to regulate data centers in Illinois is intensifying as lawmakers struggle to balance costs to consumers and the state’s need to be competitive economically.

Data centers house computer systems that store, process and distribute data but require large amounts of energy to power that workload. A growing number of these facilities are used to power AI.

A state report published in December projects energy shortfalls would begin in northern Illinois by 2029 and the rest of the state by 2031, driven in large part by data centers’ increased power usage. That’s led Gov. JB Pritzker to backtrack on a proposal he signed in his first year as governor to incentivize data center development in the state.

“With the shifting energy landscape, it is imperative that our growth does not undermine affordability and stability for our families,” he said, proposing a two-year moratorium on the incentives in his budget address Wednesday.

Illinois consumers blame data centers — which often receive generous tax incentives in Illinois — for straining the grid and driving up prices, and they want relief. But companies that operate the centers are seeking ways to build more quickly and pushing for looser regulation, arguing the centers are key to the state’s economic future.

Environmentalists want new data centers to build their own renewable energy sources on site

And the state, from the governor’s office to the legislature, is struggling with ways to balance the economic interests tied to data center development with environmental and consumer cost concerns.

“We don’t want them to overwhelm our electrical capabilities and our water resources,” Sen. Steve Stadelman, D-Caledonia, said. “If we’re going to allow them and track them, how can we make sure it benefits Illinois residents and rate payers in the state?”

Data center negotiations continue

These are the same issues and tensions legislators hoped to address in their fall veto session. But no broad consensus was reached, and instead, Gov. JB Pritzker signed the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act, adding new air regulations for backup generators used by data centers.

Lawmakers in Springfield have already begun negotiating a new round of data center regulations.

Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, recently announced the introduction of Senate Bill 4016, known as the POWER Act, to place prohibitions on cost shifting, introduce “bring your own new clean capacity and energy,” guarantee transparent public engagement and implement water efficiency standards on data centers.

“By establishing policies that ensure data centers, not consumers, bear the increasing energy costs, and critical protections for our environment and sustainable water use, we can work toward a future built for technology to support our daily lives,” Villivalam said, “not deplete our resources and price us out of our homes.”

Environmentalists want new data centers to build their own renewable energy sources on site to prevent new projects from further stressing energy infrastructure and creating more pollution.

Pritzker said something similar earlier this month: “If they are, in any way, going to increase the price of electricity for consumers, they should pay for that increase, not the consumers.”.

The data center companies oppose such mandates, preferring a voluntary “bring your own energy” policy, according to Brad Tietz, director of state policy for the Data Center Coalition industry group.

“I think, ultimately, when you try to mandate something, you get less of it,” he said.

States are competing to attract investments from companies that want to build more data centers as they seek an edge in the artificial intelligence race. Illinois has the fourth-largest number of data centers — 222 — in the country, but Tietz said the state is in danger of slipping because other states have friendlier policies.

We're a leader in the country as far as protecting people's privacy rights and protecting their data

Illinois has provided tax incentives for data centers since Pritzker signed bipartisan legislation in 2019. According to the state’s 2024 report, at least 27 data centers had received incentives totaling $983 million in estimated lifetime tax breaks and benefits. That would stop for at least two years under Pritzker’s plan.

Sen. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro, said she would like to see “a change in our policy here in Illinois” so the state does not fall behind, though she hopes those centers bring their own energy.

“We want to be able to do that because if we don’t, China will. If we don’t, Wisconsin will, Indiana will,” she said.

‘Little type of war’

As negotiations progress, the Data Center Coalition has signified another point of contention: A 2008 law known as the Biometric Information Privacy Act that prohibits private companies from collecting personal data without informed consent. The law allows people to sue over the misuse of their biometric profile, such as fingerprint mapping, facial recognition and retina scans.

Stadelman said the privacy protections in the act, which Illinois put in place before any other state, are at the center of a “little type of war.”

“You have privacy rights advocates saying, ‘We're a leader in the country as far as protecting people's privacy rights and protecting their data,’” Stadelman said. “But the data (centers) say, ‘We're not going to have more projects in Illinois unless you change the BIPA legislation.’”

Tietz said these regulations have factored into operators’ decisions to bypass Illinois, although lawmakers in 2024 drastically curtailed the way damages accrue and the liability private entities are likely to face if found in violation.

But the data center industry wasn't satisfied, and its leaders say the legal liabilities are one reason they are building in other states. Abe Scarr, state director of the Illinois Public Interest Research Group, said biometric information is uniquely sensitive.

“We should know who is collecting and commercializing information created from the stuff our lives are made of,” Scarr said. “And we should have to opt into — and be able to easily opt out of — pervasive, intrusive surveillance.”

Consumer backlash

The legislative debate comes as data centers have become increasingly controversial. In January, the Aurora City Council approved a moratorium pausing new data centers. The city had five data centers in development and had been receiving requests to build more even as residents and environmental groups complained about noise, water usage and rising utility costs.

Alison Lindburg, director of sustainability for Aurora, said the city passed the moratorium because it needed time to put requirements for data centers in place.

“We have tried to explain that to communities, that it’s not just about data centers in Aurora, it’s about the entire grid, but that doesn’t matter to them,” Lindburg said in an interview. “I think they’re just very frustrated overall with the rising electricity prices.”

Hannah Flath, Illinois Environmental Council’s climate communications director, said other communities are also opposing data centers. “In that case (Aurora), the local government acted in accordance with what their local constituents were saying,” Flath said.

Tietz said he has been in conversations with officials from Aurora about the 180-day moratorium and is hoping he can help find a solution.

Lucy Contreras, GreenLatinos Illinois state program director, said communities should have a voice in whether, where and how these projects are built. She said developers must ensure host communities receive tangible benefits rather than bearing only the burdens of hosting these facilities.

“They contribute to air pollution and consume excessive amounts of water daily, which restrains local water systems that might already be struggling,” Contreras said. “Without strong and forceful regulations, data center expansion will deepen existing inequalities, harm public health and undermine our Illinois clean energy goals.”

Spreading the costs

Utilities are building billions of dollars of new power lines and plants to keep up with energy demand increases brought on by data centers — whether they’re built or in the process of being built. They, in turn, spread associated costs to ratepayers.

“Speculation about data center development has actually increased prices,” Sen. Bill Cunningham, D-Chicago, said. “It’s not just the immediate demand, it’s anticipated future demand, so it’s really important to sift out the wheat from the chaff on what’s a real proposal and what isn’t.”

Cunningham said he expects fellow Democratic lawmakers to work on safeguards for consumers when pending data center projects go uncompleted.

Recently, northern Illinois utility Commonwealth Edison announced it will require a 10-year guarantee of revenues upfront from big energy consumers. ComEd said this will help protect ratepayers from bearing the costs of high-load projects and ensure, even if they don't come to fruition.

Maddie Wazowicz, Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance policy director, said utilities function best when they can plan into the future.

“Whether or not data centers emerge — and how much, how many of them come, where and how long they last — does complicate utility long-term planning,” she said.

Gabriel Castilho is a graduate student in journalism with Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing Communications, and is a fellow in its Medill Illinois News Bureau working in partnership with Capitol News Illinois.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

Tags: unfavorable policies may drive data centers away, lawmakers want data center operators to use renewable energy, data centers raise electricity bills for area residents, Wisconsin and Indiana privacy laws are more relaxed than Illinois

Bill to regulate soaring homeowners insurance rates is making comeback in Springfield

A bill that would give state insurance regulators authority to review and modify homeowners insurance rates failed on the floor of the House last year but could be revived for a second vote when lawmakers return to the Statehouse this week.

Peter Hancock
Capitol News Illinois

SPRINGFIELD - Illinois lawmakers are poised to make a second attempt at passing a bill that would give state regulators more authority to control the rising cost of homeowners insurance.

Gov. JB Pritzker called for the legislation last summer after Bloomington-based State Farm Insurance announced it was raising premiums in Illinois an average 27.2%, citing years of losses in its property casualty line of coverage due to weather-related disasters in the state.

Photo: Serge Lavoie/PEXELS

After a natural disaster struck a while back, some insurers increased premium payments more than 25%.

A bill to give the Illinois Department of Insurance authority to approve or reject insurance rate increases passed the Senate during last fall’s veto session. But when it returned to the House for a vote to concur with changes the Senate had made, the amended bill fell four votes short of the 60 needed for passage. That left many to believe the bill had died.

The following day, however, the bill’s chief House sponsor, Rep. Robyn Gabel, D-Evanston, refiled a motion to concur, which is allowed under House rules. And Pritzker has said since the end of the veto session that he still wants the legislation to pass.

“They get a second bite at the apple,” Kevin Martin, executive director of the Illinois Insurance Association, said in an interview.

Gabel told Capitol News Illinois through a spokesperson this week that no decision had been made about calling the bill for a second vote. But Martin said people in the industry have heard the bill could be called as early as Tuesday, when the House and Senate return to the Statehouse to begin the 2026 legislative session in earnest.

Current environment

The controversy over State Farm’s rate hike last year raised attention to the fact that Illinois stands out among states for having exceptionally weak regulations over the insurance industry.

Advocates for the legislation argue that every state in the nation except Illinois has a law that prohibits insurance companies from charging “inadequate, excessive or unfairly discriminatory” premiums. And other states’ insurance regulators have authority to review and modify proposed rate increases.

Illinois, however, is known in the insurance industry as a “use-and-file” state, meaning companies can raise their rates at any time and immediately put them into effect before filing the new rate schedule with state regulators.

The Illinois Department of Insurance has authority to license companies and agents to do business in the state. It also has authority to make sure insurance products sold in Illinois comply with state laws and that companies honor the terms of their policies. But it has no other authority to review or approve the rates they charge.

Douglas Heller, director of insurance for the Washington-based Consumer Federation of America, described Illinois’ law last year as “among the most toothless in the nation.”

In the wake of State Farm’s rate increase last year, Pritzker suggested the company was trying to shift the cost of disaster-related losses in other states like California and Florida onto the backs of Illinois consumers, and he said legislation was needed to prevent that practice from happening in Illinois.

“As states across the country face even more extreme weather than we do, we need to make sure Illinois homeowners are not paying for losses that companies experience in other states,” Pritzker said in an op-ed column published in the Chicago Tribune that was cosigned by House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch and Senate President Don Harmon.

State Farm officials firmly denied that allegation, and Martin insisted no insurance companies in Illinois engage in that practice.

“We have never seen anything like that, and we would argue very strongly that that does not happen and cannot happen based on the actuarial data that the companies have to provide in Illinois on Illinois losses,” he said.

Proposed changes

Pritzker’s call for new legislation to regulate homeowners insurance rates led to intense negotiations between the governor’s office, legislative leaders and the insurance industry. But the final language wasn’t unveiled until the final hours of the fall veto session. The language was put into a Senate amendment to House Bill 3799. It included language prohibiting “excessive, inadequate, or unfairly discriminatory” rates. It also called for banning the practice of “cost-shifting” by requiring companies to use state-specific loss data to develop their rates whenever possible.

The bill also would leave in place the state’s “use-and-file” method of setting rates, meaning companies would not have to seek advance clearance from state regulators before implementing rate changes. But it would require them to give consumers at least 60 days’ advance notice before raising rates by 10% or more.

The major sticking point for the insurance industry, however, was the provision giving the Department of Insurance authority to review and approve or modify rates after they are put into place.

Under the proposed language, if the agency found a company’s rates to be excessive, inadequate or unfairly discriminatory, it would send the company a notice specifying the agency’s objections. Companies then would be allowed to defend their rates at an administrative hearing. But after that hearing, if the agency still believed the rates violated standards of the law, it would be authorized to order the company to rebate excess charges back to customers.

According to Martin, the industry’s main objection to that language was that there was no limit on how far back in time the agency could look in its rate review process.

“They can go back forever,” he said.

“We just believe that, in all of the negotiations that we had, for them to come in at the last minute with this type of language, of the changes that they made, was just something that we thought was really unfair,” Martin said.

The House and Senate have each been in session a few days this year, mainly to introduce new bills and to pass a few resolutions. But the work of the session will begin in earnest this coming week, starting Tuesday when both chambers will meet and begin holding committee hearings.

Pritzker is scheduled to deliver his annual budget and State of the State address to a joint session of the General Assembly on Wednesday.

Tags: Illinois bill to regulate insurance companies resurfaces, Illinois Insurance Association opposes new bill, homeowners insurance rate hikes, Illinois insurance consumers

Illinois to receive $193M annually for rural health care, but providers warn of Medicaid impact

Illinois will receive $193 million a year for the next five years to expand health care access in rural areas. The funding comes from a new federal program created to offset Medicaid cuts included in H.R. 1.

by Nikoel Hytrek
Capitol News Illinois

SPRINGFIELD - Illinois will receive $193 million for each of the next five years to expand health care access for the approximately 1.9 million people in rural areas — or about $101 annually for every rural Illinoisan.

The money comes from the $50 billion federal Rural Healthcare Transformation Program fund, which Congress created to offset federal Medicaid spending cuts included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, or H.R. 1, that passed last summer.

But health care organizations said the money will not be enough to compensate for Medicaid cuts.

“These funds are good, and we're going to put them to good use, but it's not a solution,” said Jordan Powell, senior vice president of health policy and finance for the Illinois Health and Hospital Association. “It's not going to mitigate the impact of the significant Medicaid cuts that are coming our way.”

The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services said between 190,000 to 360,000 Medicaid recipients are at risk of losing coverage in Illinois because of new work requirements.

H.R. 1 also imposes a tighter cap on how much money states can raise for their Medicaid programs through provider taxes. The new limits will be phased in, starting in fiscal year 2028, and could reduce total Medicaid funding in Illinois by $4.5 billion a year by fiscal year 2031.

“Long term, we know a number of HR 1 provisions will have a devastating impact on healthcare in our state and present significant challenges with respect to maintaining equitable access to high-quality healthcare coverage for all Illinois residents,” the department said in a statement.

Illinois has 85 small and rural hospitals that serve as hubs for access to care for people who can’t travel long distances. Nearly 30% operate at a deficit, though, and most of the patients they serve are on Medicare or Medicaid, according to the Health and Hospital Association.

Powell described the new federal money as a bandage, not a permanent solution for the cuts Illinois hospitals will face. As Medicaid reimbursement decreases, he said, hospitals could be forced to reduce services like obstetrics, cut staff, or close entirely.

Rural population is only a small part of grant consideration

The amount each state received ranged from $147 million for New Jersey to $281 million for Texas, and rural population appeared to be only a small factor in the equation.

That means states like Texas, with the largest rural population in the country, got far less per rural resident than states like Rhode Island, which has the smallest. Texas received $66 per rural resident and Rhode Island, with a total award of $156 million, received $6,305 per rural resident.

Half of the total $50 billion was awarded to states equally, but the other half was awarded based on specific factors such as a state’s current or planned policies for rural health care and proposed ideas that align with federal Make America Healthy Again priorities.

Among its neighbors, Illinois has the second-lowest award amount. Michigan, with its $173 million award, is the only state with less.

In the Midwest, Michigan’s rural population is slightly larger than Illinois’, but it received only $83 per person compared to Illinois’ $101. Iowa, with fewer rural residents than Illinois, got $139 per rural person.

Illinois’ Priorities

When filling out the application to the federal government, Illinois’ HFS consulted provider associations, rural hospitals, community health centers, community mental health centers, universities and community colleges, legislators and vendors.

According to the department, the state’s application focused on:

Increasing the number of health care workers in rural areas with education, scholarships, training and incentive programs.

Removing the barriers that rural residents face to getting health care by investing in mobile and telehealth services.

Changing the way rural health care systems run by creating regional partnerships.

The federal government indicated a preference for “transforming systems,” not just supporting ongoing operating expenses.

HFS said the hospital transformation grants will be a good tool for expanding its existing Healthcare Transformation Collaboratives to rural areas. The state launched the collaborative effort in 2021 to improve health care outcomes and reduce disparities across the state. It involves providers sharing resources to meet the health needs of multiple communities and expand access to services like preventative and specialty care.

“Team-based care, in partnership with hospitals and primary care practices, looks to improve access to care for rural residents by building out infrastructure and technology in order to increase access to specialty services, transform healthcare delivery, and overcome known geographic barriers for these communities,” the agency said in an emailed statement.

Powell said increasing the workforce and cybersecurity at hospitals are some of the top priorities. After that, he said, expanding rural broadband internet and upgrading electronic health records are important.

“Workforce and technology were two of the main things that we heard from our members,” he said. “I think the state wants to emphasize better partnerships and collaboration between providers.”

‘Not a long-term fix’

Despite allowing rural hospitals and health systems to make needed improvements, Powell said he still doesn’t think the money will be enough to make up for losing Medicaid payments.

“It’s kind of like supplemental funding that’s going to help them survive just a little bit longer,” he said. “I would actually say a significant portion of them are facing slim to negative margins, as is. And so this is funding that, again, will maintain some stability and viability for these organizations. But it's not a long-term fix.”

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

TAGS: Illinois rural health care funding, Medicaid cuts impact Illinois hospitals, rural hospitals Illinois federal grants, Illinois Medicaid work requirements health care, Rural Healthcare Transformation Program Illinois

Democrats denounce Trump agenda as GOP slams Illinois House session as political theater

The Illinois House met Wednesday, passing several Democrat-introduced symbolic resolutions against the current administration's federal policies. House Republicans opposed the measures, characterizing them as unproductive.

by Georgia Epiphaniou & Erika Tulfo
Capitol News Illinois

SPRINGFIELD - Illinois House Democrats kicked off their spring session this week in a mostly symbolic fashion, denouncing President Donald Trump’s policies in a series of resolutions criticizing immigration raids and cuts to health care and child care programs.

“The session was an opportunity for us to emphasize how these policies in the federal government impact Illinois,” House Rep. Lillian Jiménez, D-Chicago, said.

The Democrat-led symbolic resolutions targeted Trump’s tariffs, excessive use of force by federal immigration agents, the freezing of affordable child care funds and the expiry of Affordable Care Act subsidies. They even denounced the administration’s push to acquire territory overseas while Illinoisans face affordability challenges at home.

Rep. Lilian Jimenez from Illinois — Rep. Lilian Jiménez speaks on the House floor during the October 2025 veto session.

They all passed overwhelmingly over Republican objections.

“We basically did nothing but allow Democrats in the General Assembly to grandstand on things that are happening in D.C, that we have zero impact on,” House Rep. Jeff Keicher, R-Sycamore, told Capitol News Illinois.

House Rep. Jaime M. Andrade Jr., D-Chicago, kicked off the Wednesday session by calling out aggressive actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, citing the killing of Silverio Villegas González in Franklin Park in September last year and Renee Good in Minnesota early this month.

Andrade filed House Resolution 622 which condemned the use of “excessive and deadly force” by ICE agents, and called for an independent investigation into the Department of Homeland Security for killings and deaths of detainees in custody. Democrats also called for the resignation of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem over her handling of immigration enforcement.

Democrats then focused on the impact of federal funding cuts.

Jiménez filed House Resolution 621, which called for the immediate unfreezing of federal child care funds, saying the session was a way to signal to constituents what their priorities are.

House Resolution 620 called on Congress to reinstate health care subsidies that expired on Dec. 31, 2025, and end what they called the “Trump healthcare affordability crisis.”

Democrats voted to approve House Resolution 624, filed by Rep. Lisa Hernandez, D-Cicero, condemning “Trump’s efforts to acquire territories and titles overseas, while leaving working families at home to pay the bill.”

She told Capitol News Illinois that taxpayer money was being used to fund operations that could be used to prioritize the needs of Americans. It came just hours after President Trump spoke to global leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday. He made the case earlier that day for why the U.S. should own Greenland, a self-governing territory under NATO ally Denmark.

But the resolutions met fierce pushback from House Republicans, who slammed the proposals as symbolic rather than productive and characterized them as theatrics.

Only one actionable joint resolution passed, which confirmed the House and Senate will convene in a joint session on Feb. 18 for Gov. JB Pritzker’s budget address.

Georgia Epiphaniou and Erika Tulfo are graduate students in journalism with Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications, and fellows in its Medill Illinois News Bureau working in partnership with Capitol News Illinois.

TAGS: Illinois House symbolic resolutions, Illinois Democrats Trump criticism, Illinois General Assembly spring session, GOP response Illinois House resolutions, Trump policies Illinois legislature

DOJ presses Illinois for sensitive voter records in Federal Court

Illinois becomes at least the 19th state sued by DOJ over access to voter registration databases.

by Peter Hancock
Capitol News Illinois

SPRINGFIELD - The U.S. Department of Justice filed suit Thursday against the state of Illinois seeking access to its complete, unredacted voter registration database, including sensitive personal data such as dates of birth, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers. The lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Springfield, makes Illinois at least the 19th state to be sued for such information. Read the lawsuit.

The Justice Department has been seeking that information since July, but the Illinois State Board of Elections so far has declined to hand over the information, citing both state and federal privacy laws that it says prohibit it from handing over such information.

Instead, in August, the agency gave DOJ a copy of the same database it makes available under state law to political parties and candidates. That file includes voters’ names, addresses and their age at the time they registered, but not their date of birth, driver’s license, state ID or Social Security number.

Federal officials have said they want the information to determine whether Illinois is complying with federal requirements to keep its voter database updated and accurate, which includes scrubbing registrations of voters who have died or moved away from their listed address.

State officials, however, have responded that Illinois has a decentralized voter registration system in which local election authorities at the city and county level are responsible for maintaining their own voter databases.

The lawsuit names State Board of Elections executive director Bernadette Matthews as the defendant.

A spokesman for the board said it has asked Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office for representation in the case. The agency declined to offer any further comment.

Illinois voter registration database lawsuit, U.S. Department of Justice voter data suit, Illinois election board privacy laws, unredacted voter data federal lawsuit, DOJ enforcement of voter list maintenance

State funding allow small Illinois farmers deliver fresh produce to local food-sharing networks

Sola Gratia Farm and other recipients used LFIG funding to improve post-harvest handling and delivery of fresh produce.

by Tom O'Connor & Maggie Dougherty
Capitol News Illinois

URBANA - It’s a cold and overcast day in November, but Sola Gratia farm in Urbana is teeming with life. The last leafy greens of the season are lined up neatly in the field, while delicate herbs and flowers have been moved inside plastic-walled high tunnels to weather the cold winter months. To arrive on Thanksgiving dinner plates and in food pantry fridges, the produce from the 29-acre farm must be loaded into a refrigerated delivery van and spirited off to distribution sites.

That delivery vehicle was purchased using funds Sola Gratia, which means “by grace alone,” received under Illinois’ Local Food Infrastructure Grant, or LFIG, program. The grant also allowed the farm to purchase much of the equipment used to clean and package produce prior to sale or donation. Traci Barkley, the farm’s director, told Capitol News Illinois that infrastructure like this is important for farms to grow but can be difficult to fund independently.

“So the grant, all of a sudden, allows dreams to come true,” Barkley said, smiling.

Sola Gratia was one of 19 LFIG recipients that received a collective $1.8 million in funding awarded in 2024 after passage of the Local Food Infrastructure Grant Act.

The law created funding to support small farmers and food distributors — those with fewer than 50 employees — in producing locally grown food for Illinois communities. The General Assembly found that 95% of the food consumed in Illinois is imported from outside the state.

Shifting just 10% of that purchasing to local farms could generate billions of dollars in economic growth for Illinois, according to the law. But for Illinois to move toward purchasing more local food, farmers and food processors need adequate infrastructure to ensure the food reaches consumers predictably.

That means refrigerators and freezers to keep fresh produce and meat at peak quality; facilities where fruits and vegetables can be uniformly cleaned, sliced and processed into products like jams and jellies; equipment to package goods for sale and vehicles to transport them.

‘It makes an enormous difference’

The Illinois Stewardship Alliance, a local food and farm advocacy group, administered the program in its first year, 2024. The next year, the state appropriated $2 million in fiscal year 2025 to the Department of Agriculture to administer the grants, though the program faced implementation delays.

Between the unspent funds and an additional $2 million allocated to the program in the fiscal year 2026 budget, there will be $4 million available for the upcoming cycle. While small relative to the $55.1 billion in spending measures in Illinois’ fiscal 2026 budget, farmers said the grants of up to $75,000 for an individual project and up to $250,000 for a collaborative project have a significant impact on the recipients.

The Department of Agriculture will continue to administer the LFIG grant cycle in 2026 and expects the application process to open in early January.

Jeff Hake gestures to an antique grain combine on his family’s McLean County farm.

Jeff Hake is a partner at Funks Grove Heritage Fruits and Grains in McLean County, a small family operation growing wheat, corn and fruits. The farm received an LFIG grant to help dry, clean and store grains it processes into flour, cornmeal, pancake mixes, popcorn and more.

Hake summarized the impact of the grant on an overcast winter morning at the farm, where trains frequently pass on the nearby track running along Old Route 66.

“It makes an enormous difference,” he told reporters. “And the impact expands dramatically with these small, thoughtful investments.”

Among the purchases Funks Grove made with the support of the grant were a gravity table and a seed cleaner, or eliminator, affectionately called Ellie. Hake said the first wheat crop to run through both machines was the cleanest the farm had ever produced.

Filtering on density and size, the two machines strain out debris, leaves and dirt. The gravity table even allows farmers to filter out infected grain, which becomes lighter when consumed by disease.

Hake said the family identified a need for the gravity table after they almost lost a crop of corn to a grain-born toxin. The corn tested above the safe threshold for consumption, meaning the entire batch would have been wasted — and revenues lost.

Luckily for the farm, another grain farmer two hours north near Rockford had a gravity table. She ran the Funks Grove corn through, removing enough of the infected crop to effectively save the harvest.

Ripple effect

Hake and other LFIG recipients say the grants have had a ripple effect.

For example, a flower farmer near Lexington to the north cleans her harvested popcorn using the machines at Funks Grove, while a farm-based distillery in Paxton to the west is exploring doing the same for this year’s corn crop. Neither has the infrastructure to clean grain at that level, so collaborating with Funks Grove improves efficiency.

“We’ve learned so much and we’ve acquired all these things. And I very much don't want to be gatekeeping,” Hake said. “I don't want anyone else to have to go through this if we have it within an hour of where they're farming.”

FarmFED Co-op president and grain farmer Tom Martin talks with reporters in the Mt. Pulaski building purchased by the co-op with the Local Food Infrastructure Grant.

That same collaboration is core to the missions of the LEAF Food Hub in Carbondale and the FarmFED Cooperative in Mount Pulaski, also former LFIG recipients. While they differ in structure, both provide small farmers with post-harvest infrastructure and assist with distribution.

FarmFED provides produce to local food banks and opens its kitchen to a nearby bakery. Tom Martin is the cooperative’s board president and a grain farmer whose family has lived in the area for over 200 years.

Martin outlined the impact of the support from LFIG on a rainy afternoon at FarmFED’s site on the main square in Mount Pulaski. The grant allowed FarmFED to purchase a building and food processing equipment for local farmers.

“We’re not trying to become a great big co-op,” he said. “We’re trying to provide healthy food, support farmers and support our communities.” Similarly, Sola Gratia reported that several other farms and organizations benefitted from being able to transport produce in the van they purchased with the LFIG support.

Sola Gratia Director Traci Barkley watches on as farm staff load produce.

“The state invested in us and that’s shared with others,” Barkley said at Sola Gratia. “There’s a huge camaraderie that we try to contribute to.” Sola Gratia also regularly hosts gardening workshops, farm yoga sessions and educational events with local schools and community groups.

Global networks

Part of the challenge of increasing Illinois’ share of locally produced food, regional farmers say, is the barriers to competing with larger businesses that sell food cheaply and in large quantities.

Blayne Harris is the operations manager and an owner of the Carbondale-based LEAF Food Hub, also known as the Little Egypt Alliance of Farmers. LEAF received an LFIG grant to help reduce waste for their network of farmers and food processors, who distribute food through an online marketplace to a dozen local sites.

Working together allows LEAF farmers to focus less on making money and more on farming, according to Harris. “The core issue to all of this is just like the economy of scale, and it’s really difficult to compete with the global economy at a regional food level,” Harris said. “The hope behind this is that if we have collective marketing, aggregation, processing and distribution, then farmers can farm.”

LEAF Food Hub in Carbondale helps local small farmers.

However, Harris said, collective distribution models face limitations when there’s no avenue for selling food to larger institutions, such as schools, hospitals and correctional facilities, which serve hundreds of thousands of meals daily.

“Something that I would have as an input towards future infrastructure grants is that they should be paired with some sort of a grant that enables purchasing,” Harris said.

Illinois law mandates that state public institutions must purchase food from the lowest bidder, often larger companies from out of state. The Department of Corrections, the state’s largest purchaser of food, awards nearly 70% of its contracts to just two distributors, according to Investigate Midwest.

A bill proposed in the General Assembly’s spring session would have changed that, allowing public universities to award contracts to local farmers using criteria for sustainability and ethical growing practices. It stalled in committee.

Farmers also face barriers getting local food to underserved communities, according to a 2024 report on food access commissioned by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

A member of the team at Sola Gratia chops produce.

Larger corporations are not incentivized to open chain grocery stores in low-income or rural areas where profit potentials are low, and small, independent grocery stores that fill the gap struggle to meet the low-price expectations set by large competitors.

When grocery stores close, people lose access to healthy foods, creating food insecurity. The Illinois Department of Public Health reported in 2021 that nearly 3.3 million Illinoisians, about 1-in-4, lived in communities that lacked access to fresh, nutritious food.

Growing local

Countering that food insecurity is core to the mission of many of the LFIG recipients interviewed, with multiple farms donating large shares of their produce to local food pantries.

Just Roots, a half-acre urban farm nestled beside the Green Line on Chicago’s South Side, donates up to 50% of its fruits, vegetables and herbs to local food pantries and mutual aid organizations. The rest they sell at an affordable price on a sliding scale to local residents. The community farm received an LFIG grant to purchase a refrigerated van and expand on-site refrigeration capacity.

Standing in deep snow earlier this month, Sean Ruane, director of operations and development at Just Roots, discussed the role of local farms, especially in urban areas where green spaces are less common.

“Everything that we're growing here is being distributed within a five-mile radius of the farm,” Ruane said. “That’s very intentional on our part. And part of that is we're distributing all the food that we grow within 48 hours of harvesting it, so it’s as fresh and nutritionally dense, really, as food can be.”

Just Roots also hosts educational events, inviting local residents and children to come see where their food is grown. A teacher by training, Ruane said exposing kids to fruits and vegetables when they are growing up will make them more willing to eat those foods later.

“Our hope is that we can try to kind of help bring people back to, you know, much simpler times in terms of how food is produced and distributed and consumed,” Ruane said.

Upcoming grant cycle

Before applying for a 2026 LFIG grant, applicants will need to complete three pre-registration steps, standard for all grants administered under the Ag Department. The department also recommends preparing documents including payroll logs and tax forms to show proof of eligibility. A full checklist of the necessary forms can be found on the LFIG website.

“We don’t want anybody to get held up this time of year trying to get paperwork from their bank or from their payroll departments or anything like that,” grant administrator Heather Wilkins said. “So always continue to look at the Department of Ag website for those updates as we begin to launch this program.”

Local Food Infrastructure Grant program supported Sola Gratia’s purchase of much of the equipment in its washroom.

Recipients will be expected to match 25% of their award with a comparable investment unless the project is classified as “high need,” meaning that it fills a critical infrastructure gap or serves underserved farmers and communities.

Points will be awarded to proposals that have community support, are led by historically underserved farmers and owners, increase affordability in underserved communities and more.

A list of allowable expenses and other information about the application are detailed in the LFIG administrative rules.

The farms and food processors who were awarded LFIG funding when it was administered under the Illinois Stewardship Alliance will be eligible to reapply this year, but future projects under the Department of Agriculture will be ineligible for the grant in the subsequent funding cycle.

In the first year of the program, 247 project proposals were submitted, from which 19 were selected. The applicants collectively requested over $23 million in funding. The Stewardship Alliance said this indicates that LFIG fills a major gap.

“There’s still a very, very high need for local food infrastructure in Illinois,” Alliance Policy Director Molly Pickering said. “We’re still trying to move the needle on Illinois farmers being able to feed Illinois, and that is only possible when they have access to infrastructure.”

Tom O’Connor is a freelance multimedia journalist. He is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism.

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Chlebek says Illinois has ‘No Excuse’ as Florida advances property tax plan

Florida voters may soon decide on eliminating property taxes. Casey Chlebek says Illinois should give voters the same chance.

PARK RIDGE, ILL - In a political moment where property taxes are usually treated as an unavoidable fact of life, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Casey Chlebek says Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis just cracked the door wide open and Illinois leaders are pretending not to notice.

As DeSantis moves forward with a 2026 ballot initiative that would eliminate property taxes on primary residences in Florida, Chlebek is renewing his call for Illinois to let voters weigh in on whether the state should do the same. For Chlebek, the contrast between Florida’s momentum and Illinois’ silence is becoming harder to ignore.

Illinois has the highest effective property tax rate in the nation. Florida does not rank in the top 20.

“Governor DeSantis just proved this isn’t a pipe dream,” Chlebek said. “Florida is putting this question directly to voters in 2026. Illinois should do the same.”

DeSantis announced last week that Florida voters will be asked to approve a constitutional amendment eliminating property taxes on homesteaded properties. The proposal would require 60 percent voter approval and includes safeguards to protect funding for schools and law enforcement. It also lays out a phased approach that includes $1,000 rebate checks for homeowners in December 2025 and long-term revenue replacement through spending reforms and alternative funding sources.

Chlebek has been making a similar argument in Illinois since September, when he first called on Gov. JB Pritzker and the General Assembly to place a statewide advisory referendum on the 2026 ballot. Florida’s move, he said, strips away the usual excuses coming out of Springfield.

Illinois has the highest effective property tax rate in the nation. Florida does not rank in the top 20. Yet Florida’s governor is pushing for elimination while Illinois leaders continue to describe meaningful reform as too complicated or politically risky.

“We have the worst property tax crisis in America, and our leaders are doing nothing,” Chlebek said. “Florida’s taxes are lower than ours, and they’re still saying enough is enough.”

The stakes, he argues, are not theoretical. Since 2019, more than 1,000 Cook County residents have lost homes worth an estimated $108 million over roughly $2.3 million in unpaid property taxes. That group included at least 125 seniors. The difference between the tax debt and the home’s value was kept by the government and private investors, a practice the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional in 2023.

Families across the political spectrum are drowning in property taxes.

Despite that ruling, Illinois has yet to fully reform its property tax foreclosure laws.

“In Florida, they’re fighting to eliminate property taxes for homeowners who can pay,” Chlebek said. “In Illinois, we’re seizing homes from seniors who fall behind and keeping their equity. That’s not tax collection. That’s state-sanctioned theft.”

Florida is not acting alone. Republican leaders in Texas, Kansas, Montana and Pennsylvania are advancing their own property tax relief or elimination proposals. Several states have already moved to stop home equity theft following the Supreme Court’s decision. Illinois, Chlebek noted, has done neither.

“This is a national movement, and Illinois is being left behind,” he said.

Chlebek’s proposal would place a nonbinding advisory question on the November 2026 ballot asking voters whether Illinois should pursue abolishing property taxes on primary residences and replace them with alternative funding for schools, police, fire protection and local services. While local governments control property taxes under the Illinois Constitution, Chlebek says an overwhelming vote would send a clear signal to lawmakers.

“Put it on the ballot. Let the people decide,” he said. “If they say yes, Springfield has to act. If they say no, fine. But at least give them the choice.”

He points to Florida as proof that the issue can cut across political divides. DeSantis and the Florida Legislature have clashed on other issues, yet both chambers are aligned on sending the property tax question to voters.

“This isn’t partisan. It’s practical,” Chlebek said. “Families across the political spectrum are drowning in property taxes.”

For Chlebek, the issue comes down to the basic meaning of homeownership.

“You can pay off your mortgage and still lose your home if you fall behind on taxes,” he said. “That’s not ownership. Florida gets it. Illinois voters get it. Now it’s time Springfield gets it, too.”

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Illinois Governor signs bill enacting immigrant protections in and around state courthouses

New Illinois law protects people attending court, making them “privileged from civil arrest inside state courthouses and within a 1,000-foot buffer zone outside of the buildings.

by Brenden Moore
Capitol News Illinois

SPRINGFIELD - Christening it as part of a “nation-leading” response to aggressive federal immigration raids, Gov. JB Pritzker signed legislation Tuesday allowing Illinois residents to sue immigration agents who arrest them in or near courthouses or if they believe their constitutional rights were violated.

The new law — which lawmakers have acknowledged is likely to face a legal challenge — also requires public colleges and universities, hospitals and child care facilities to set up policies for dealing with immigration enforcement and mostly prohibits them from disclosing the immigration status of students, patients, parents and children.

“Together, we're sending a message to Donald Trump, to Kristi Noem, to Gregory Bovino and anyone else seeking to terrorize our people: Your divisiveness and your brutality are not welcome here,” Pritzker said, surrounded by state lawmakers and immigrant rights advocates in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood.

“We know that this new set of laws can't mitigate all of the harm, but it gives us new protective tools and is a symbol of our shared action against those terrorizing, our communities and our state,” Pritzker said.

Response to ‘Midway Blitz’

The Democrat-led state legislature passed the bill in late October during the height of the federal immigration enforcement campaign known as “Operation Midway Blitz.”

Our rights follow us into the courthouse, onto campus, to the hospital and when taking our kids to day care

The Department of Homeland Security said the operation, which launched in September and wound down last month, resulted in the arrest of more than 3,000 immigrants who were living in Chicago and its suburbs without legal permission.

Though federal officials claimed they were targeting the “worst of the worst,” DHS data indicates that most arrested had no prior criminal convictions or pending charges.

The raids often led to violent confrontations between masked federal agents and protestors during various operations in the city and suburbs, including near an Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility in suburban Broadview. Many of these skirmishes resulted in the deployment of tear gas and other chemical agents.

Bovino and about 200 Border Patrol agents under his command left Chicago for southern states last month, though they could be back fourfold this March, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, said the law “sends the message that if you abuse your authority, there are consequences.”

“Our rights follow us into the courthouse, onto campus, to the hospital and when taking our kids to day care,” Harmon said. “No one gets to take them away. We are providing the victims of this chaotic federal assault a clear, legal path to go after their abusers and hold them accountable.”

With Pritzker’s signature, all people attending court are considered “privileged from civil arrest” inside state courthouses and within a 1,000-foot buffer zone outside of the buildings.

Illinois Republicans have criticized the provision, arguing that it would have unintended consequences for state and local law enforcement.

Though there had long been a de facto understanding that such facilities were off-limits for immigration enforcement, they have increasingly been the site of apprehensions over the past year. Those who violate the act could be liable for statutory damages of $10,000.

It gives people arrested under those circumstances the right to sue the agents who detained them.

Criticisms and potential challenge

The law also allows residents to sue immigration agents for violating their constitutional right to due process and protection against unreasonable searches and seizures.

They would be able to collect punitive damages that can increase if the agents are wearing masks, concealing their identities, failing to wear body cameras or using a vehicle with a non-Illinois or obscured license plate.

Illinois Republicans have criticized the provision, arguing that it would have unintended consequences for state and local law enforcement. It also likely invites a legal challenge from the Trump Administration on the grounds that it violates the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution.

DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLauglin told Capitol News Illinois in an emailed statement that Pritzker “must be unfamiliar with the U.S. Constitution.”

“By signing this law, Pritzker violated the supremacy clause, his oath he took as governor to ‘support the Constitution of the United States’ — which itself falls under the oaths clause of the Constitution,” McLaughlin said. “We hope the headlines, social media likes, and fundraising emails he did this for are worth it!”

Harmon acknowledged in October that the law would likely be challenged, though Pritzker — one of Trump’s most pugnacious critics and seen as a potential 2028 Democratic candidate for president — said Tuesday that he believed it to be “in good shape.”

“Whenever you enact something that is tough, that is about protecting people, there are going to be people out there who attack it,” Pritzker said. “No doubt they have the ability to go to court about it. But I believe this is not just a good law, but a great law.”

Day cares, colleges and hospitals

The law requires all general acute care hospitals to implement a policy for interactions with law enforcement by Jan. 1. All other hospitals need a plan in place by March 1.

The law also prohibits day care centers from sharing the immigration status of children or parents unless required by law.

Illinois colleges and universities will need to have procedures in place for approving requests from law enforcement agents attempting to enter campus by the new year.

The law also prohibits day care centers from sharing the immigration status of children or parents unless required by law. It also requires the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and Illinois Department of Early Childhood to provide “know your rights” materials and preparedness plans to families on their websites.

Day cares will also need to adopt plans for interacting with law enforcement agents and notifying parents if agents request a child’s information. State Rep. Norma Hernandez, D-Melrose Park, said that the fatal shooting of unarmed father and Mexican immigrant Silverio Villegas González in September by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer after dropping off his two young sons at school and day care in the Chicago area “reminds us why this law matters so deeply.”

“His death was not an isolated tragedy,” Hernandez said. “It is a painful reminder that without strong protections, everyday life becomes a place of danger, and that is where we are right now.”

In addition to the law, Pritzker signed an executive order in October creating the Illinois Accountability Commission, which has been tasked with producing a public record of alleged abuses perpetrated by federal agents during “Operation Midway Blitz.”

It will also examine the impact of such conduct on Illinois residents and communities and offer recommendations for accountability and reform.

TAGS: Illinois send message to Donald Trump, New law prohibits university and hospitals from telling ICE immigration status, Illinois courthouse bill passed in October, 3,000 immigrants without status arrested in Illinois, Law gives people the right to sue customs agents

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