Eye On Illinois: Stalling of transit bill means substantial reforms still possible

With the caveat that no proposed legislation is ever truly dead, it was a relief to see House Bill 3438 idled over the weekend.

The Senate approved a plan to raise new money for struggling Chicagoland public transit agencies, but House members weren’t fully on board with things like a $1.50 adder for every online home delivery order or additional charges for taxi and rideshare purchases and new fees for charging electric vehicles.

“All told, we have achieved with the Senate package, a $1.5 billion investment for the northeast Illinois region,” said state Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, according to Capitol News Illinois. “And we have received more than double what downstate transit agencies requested for a historic investment.”

However, the proposal fell short on two significant fronts. One, it would raise considerable amounts from activities only loosely (at best) connected to public transportation. Two, it didn’t embrace the opportunity to fully reform transit statewide or deliver the kind of meaningful governance changes that might actually carry productivity and efficiency into future generations.

“This has become a bailout for Chicago CTA,” said state Sen. Seth Lewis, R-Bartlett. “We’re giving the mayor more control. We’re giving him more than a billion dollars in revenue.”

Under the Senate’s plan, the Regional Transportation Authority would become the Northern Illinois Transit Authority, a better name than before, provided you can get past all the territory in the northern part of the state that would still be on the outside looking in.

The NITA board would be composed of 20 members: the governor, the Chicago mayor and the Cook County Board president would appoint five each. DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties would get to name one.

That’s actually more people in the mix than the current system, in which the governor doesn’t have any appointees, and my crack research team is still looking to find an example of when adding bureaucrats improved a difficult situation.

Except to hear even more about this issue as the RTA begins budgeting for fiscal 2026, which it now must do based on revenue assumptions from this weekend’s votes. Whether that (or larger geopolitical influences) force lawmakers back to Springfield sooner rather than later remains to be seen, but the bill’s stalling validates everyone who argued the General Assembly didn’t have the bandwidth or desire to craft a workable solution before the May 31 deadline.

Like many government functions, public transportation doesn’t need to be profitable or directly serve every resident to justify its existence or taxpayer investment. However, the General Assembly has yet to fully address the realities of changing and diverse needs in support of all types of communities.

This moment continues to demand more than what it’s been given.

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Local News Network. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.