Woeful inaction on Sears deal

It’s a scary thing, in this economy, not to know whether your employer is sticking around or pulling up stakes for a move to another state.

Thousands of suburban families are in that boat, now that Sears Holdings in Hoffman Estates presumably is weighing whether to make good on its threats to depart Illinois for business-friendlier states like Texas or Ohio. And Hoffman Estates leaders, other local governments that rely on Sears taxes, and anyone concerned about the region’s economy are in there with them,

The Illinois General Assembly is largely to blame. True to form, Illinois lawmakers saved the tough work for the very end of their legislative session — and then came up short. They let time run out on the tax-break proposal, even though a plan for tax incentives for Sears appeared back in May.

The fall legislative session ended Nov. 10 with no action taken. Like a snowball rolling down hill, the tax-break proposal for Sears had picked up a lot of new layers, including even bigger tax incentives for the CME Group in Chicago, tax reductions for small businesses and the working poor, and a price tag estimated as high as $850 million.

Lawmakers scheduled themselves another day in session for the express purpose of getting the massive tax-breaks package approved. But that left details of the final House proposal to be negotiated over Thanksgiving week, so the bill wasn’t filed until Sunday, leaving no time to line up support in the House before committee hearings Monday and that fateful extra session day on Tuesday. On that day, lawmakers once again went home after failing to get support for either of two bills, with the House and Senate disagreeing sharply on elements that have nothing to do with Sears.

So there you have it — a monumental tale of legislative foot dragging. The General Assembly says it’ll keep trying, but it has no more meetings scheduled this year.

We previously have urged lawmakers to separate Sears from the umbrella bill and consider tax breaks for the retailer on their own merits. We reiterate that position, and advise lawmakers to take up Sears tax breaks again with a greater sense of urgency. With a $400 million offer on the table, Ohio leaders certainly seem to have had no trouble assessing the value of having the retailer in their state.

It might already be too late. Sears, while seeking to reassure workers, says it’ll stick to its plan to decide by the end of this year whether to stay or go. In light of that, comments by Senate President John Cullerton and others that the matter will keep until the legislature returns in January seem cavalier.

For the sake of Sears’ employees and the region as a whole, we urge lawmakers not to wait and see if that’s the case.