Illinois lawmakers are facing a series of tough questions during their fall veto session, including the future of public transit and of the Chicago Bears.

While lawmakers have been cool on the idea of approving public funding to help support the Bears’ proposed stadium project in suburban Arlington Heights, State Rep. Kam Buckner is looking to demand plenty of transparency should any deal take place.

“If the Bears do decide to move, there are things that need to happen to protect the people,” he said.

The STARS Act was introduced by Buckner this week in Springfield, requiring teams to fund cost-benefit analysis studies and to publish the findings online for public perusal before any deal can be agreed to.

The measure would also require teams to repay subsidies if they don’t play out the full length of their agreement with the state, or if they fail to live up to other terms of the agreement.

“What happens is, they often leave taxpayers holding the bag,” Buckner said.

It’s unclear whether that measure, or the Bears’ pursuit of a property tax freeze and assistance in upgrading infrastructure around the proposed stadium, will even be discussed during the veto session.

Other issues, like rising energy costs and increasing insurance premiums, will likely attract the attention of lawmakers, but the big looming concern is the transit “fiscal cliff,” coming as federal COVID-era funding expires and agencies look toward significant deficits.

Already Metra and Pace have released budgets calling for fare hikes to help deal with those deficits, but service cuts for those agencies and for the CTA also remain on the table if an agreement isn’t reached.

“This affects livelihoods, this affects jobs, and we are in limbo,” ATU Local 308 head Cassie Collins said.

Labor unions are among the strongest proponents of a new deal for transit funding, saying that the industry could be dealt a significant blow if an agreement can’t be reached.  

“We’re looking at entire train stations being closed, entire routes just being cut,” Illinois AFL-CIO communications head Alyssa Goodstein said. “It’s just a continuation of kicking that can down the road, and we’ve done it long enough.”

State lawmakers have until the day before Halloween to discuss a funding bill, among all the other priorities facing them in Springfield.