Illinois Lawmakers Kill Attack on High Home-Insurance Rates

Gov. JB Pritzker is reviving his campaign to put homeowners’ insurance rates under state scrutiny, weeks after a rate-review bill unexpectedly collapsed in the Illinois House.

The governor is leaning on a familiar example — State Farm’s more than 27 percent spike in home insurance premiums this summer — to argue that Illinois is an outlier in leaving insurers unchecked, as homeowners shoulder some of the steepest increases in years, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Homeowners insurance rates are ballooning across the country. But Illinois’ home insurance premiums increased by 50 percent between 2021 and 2024, the second-highest increase in the U.S.

Illinois’ regulatory void has become a political liability. Pritzker, speaking Thursday in Chicago, framed the State Farm hike as exactly the kind of move that should trigger state oversight. The Bloomington-based giant blamed extreme weather and rising repair costs, but the governor said that explanation wasn’t enough.

“We don’t know if homeowners are being gouged,” he said, adding that a nearly 30 percent jump “ought to be reviewed by a state regulator.”

The stalled bill would have allowed the Illinois Department of Insurance to vet and challenge rate increases deemed excessive or “unfairly discriminatory.”

It cleared the Senate 41-15 — with a small handful of Republicans joining Democrats — but fell four votes short in the House as the fall session closed. Several Democrats broke ranks, delivering Pritzker one of his few legislative setbacks in a chamber firmly controlled by his party.

The defeat was surprising given the public pressure campaign from Pritzker and legislative leaders.

In July, the governor co-authored an op-ed with House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch and Senate President Don Harmon urging State Farm to be more transparent. Welch’s office told the outlet that leadership believed they had the votes, but “a few people must have changed their minds after debate.”

One of the Democratic holdouts was Rep. Thaddeus Jones, chair of the House Insurance Committee and mayor of Calumet City, who argued the bill ignored auto insurance — a bigger pain point for consumers, he said.

Jones didn’t vote “no” but encouraged colleagues to tank the measure, calling for a more comprehensive overhaul. Campaign disclosures show he received about $20,000 in contributions from insurance interests this year, including $4,000 from a State Farm-aligned PAC, a common dynamic for committee chairs overseeing major industries.

The veto-session version of the bill had been scaled back from earlier drafts that paired oversight of home and auto coverage. It also would have required insurers to warn policyholders and state regulators 60 days before any premium increase above 10 percent. House Majority Leader Robyn Gabel, the bill’s lead sponsor, said that window would give homeowners a realistic chance to shop for alternatives.

State Farm countered that more oversight would backfire by making the market less competitive. The company cited inflation, costly weather events and major wildfire losses outside Illinois. It said it paid out $1.26 for every $1 of homeowner premium collected in the state last year, including $638 million in hail damage alone.

Republicans framed the proposal as overreach. Rep. Jeff Keicher, a State Farm agent, said it would “turn the industry on its head” without addressing litigation and other cost drivers.

Harmon said Thursday he expects the House to take another run at the bill this spring.

— Eric Weilbacher