Gov. JB Pritzker plans to renew his calls for more regulation of Illinois’ insurance industry.

Pritzker visited Bloomington-Normal on Tuesday for a groundbreaking ceremony of ISU’s fine arts complex transformation.

“The idea that your homeowner’s insurance in one single year is going to go up 27% is a bit outrageous,” he said. “The reaction that I have, and I think that many members of the General Assembly have, is that that’s not fair.”

Pritzker’s claim doubles down on a rare public rebuke aimed at State Farm, headquartered in Bloomington, over a rate hike the company said was caused by inflation and extreme weather events driving up the cost and frequency of claims.

State Rep. Sharon Chung, a Democrat from Bloomington, opposed legislation that narrowly failed to regulate homeowner’s insurance rates.

Pritzker said he wants to see lawmakers try again.

“I’m in favor of us making sure that we get the transparency that we should have and have the ability to discuss with the insurance company why their rates are so high.”

State Farm previously disputed Pritzker’s claims that Illinois policy holders are shouldering out-of-state costs, based on information from the Illinois Department of Insurance. State Farm called the governor’s data incorrect, but Pritzker said the company has not provided data to back up the decision, and he’s pushing lawmakers to revisit the issue with a modified version of the previous bill.

“It is absolutely true that insurance companies in Illinois need to be straightforward and transparent with their customers,” he said.

Pritzker said the state introducing accountability measures doesn’t diminish Illinois’ attractiveness to insurance companies. State Farm is among the largest employers in the state, with insurance playing an outsized role in Bloomington-Normal’s economy. Country Financial is also based here.

“As you’ve seen, we’ve been highly successful at building that industry here,” Pritzker said. “We want to do nothing that will disturb that fact. This bill doesn’t do that. All this bill does is really demand transparency and give the department the ability to opine and work with the insurance companies about what those rate increases ought to be.”

SAFE-T Act revision

Peoria County Sheriff Chris Watkins recently called on Pritzker to urge lawmakers to revise cashless bail, which was instituted as part of sweeping statewide criminal justice reform known as the SAFE-T Act in 2023.

Pritzker said the SAFE-T Act has been “highly effective,” saying crime rates across the state have decreased since 2023.

“We’ve done a much better job in the state justly holding people who are violent criminals in jail and not forcing people who can’t afford bail, and have not committed a serious crime, to sit in jail awaiting trial. That’s inappropriate,” Pritzker said.

In a statement, Watkins correlated the removal of cash bail with an uptick in jail bookings on certain low-level and nonviolent crimes which used to require bail and are not typically detainable offenses while a defendant awaits trial. Watkins noted an increase in missed court dates among defendants granted pretrial release.

In McLean County, the jail population has creeped up since 2023. Sheriff Matt Lane similarly attributed this to missed court dates, particularly for defendants with methamphetamine charges, and has advocated for giving law enforcement more agency to decide which defendants should remain in jail.

Pritzker said mental health and substance use care in Illinois was “decimated” during a budget stalemate that preceded his time in the governor’s office, which has led to jails becoming de-facto mental health care providers.

“I believe very strongly that we’ve got to alleviate the burden on police of dealing with people with substance use problems by putting them in jail,” Pritzker said. “Let’s separate the people who really committed serious crimes from people who just need some help. Significantly more investment is required to make all of that happen.”

Pritzker said he’s “open to listening to what changes ought to be made” to the SAFE-T Act.

“But proposals have to be made in the General Assembly. They have to go to committee. We’ve got to thoroughly vet them. And then, of course, I’ll consider them as governor."

Higher education funding

Pritzker said he’s supportive of evidence-based funding models for public universities, mimicking the needs-based approach to how state dollars are distributed to K-12 school districts.

“It’s worked so well for K-12 and we’ve really lifted up the schools that have suffered over the years,” Pritzker said.

Pritzker said aligning the model to higher education still needs work in the legislature, with the biggest question being “how fast can we do it with the resources we have?”

Stakeholders have called on the Illinois Board of Higher Education to release more than $29 million in discretionary funding that was held back from state colleges and universities. Pritzker previously said he was waiting for “stability” on federal education policy as the government sought to slash funding to public universities and wind down the Department of Education.

Pritzker said he’s open to allocating more state dollars for higher education, but he has to weigh that against other priorities.

“You think about child care, and all the other things that have been cut by the federal government that are hurting working families. How can we balance all of that to make it work for our universities as well as all the other needs that exist?”