Illinois lawmakers propose bill to address public transit fiscal cliff that could cut CTA, Metra Pace service
On the second-to-last day of the spring legislative session, Illinois lawmakers have finally proposed a new bill outlining how to fund CTA, Meta and Pace as the Regional Transportation Authority approaches a critical fiscal cliff.
Transit leaders say there could be service cuts of up to 40% if they don't $771 million by the end of the session in Springfield.
Lawmakers believe this latest bill will address that fiscal cliff. It's not yet final, but the bill includes several proposed new taxes and fees to help pay for public transit, including a 10% tax on ridesharing tips, the option to raise tollway fees, a fee for electric vehicle charging infrastructure and a real estate transfer tax for suburban Cook County and the collar counties.
"This obviously, you know, the funding mechanism we've put forward, gets us above the fiscal cliff amount, and you know, obviously, we're relying on estimates, but the goal is to ensure we're funding a system, not for tomorrow, not for next year, but for decades to come," said State Rep. Ram Villivalam.
State Senate revenue project documents seen by Streetsblog Chicago also detail additional future sources of transit funding, including a new $1 fee on deliveries of food and retail project. Another option would include eliminating the discount on sales tax for biodiesel fuel.
Lawmakers spent hours Thursday debating another bill that would overhaul the state's mass transit system, but that bill did not include provisions to address the looming RTA fiscal cliff.
That bill, instead, focuses on reforming the structure and governance of the Chicago area's mass transit system, and would replace the RTA with a new organization called the Northern Illinois Transit Authority.
Technically, the money doesn't run out until the end of the year, and there will likely be a veto session that could provide another shot at an 11th-hour rescue. But transportation officials say they'll have to start laying out the specific cuts next week if the funding doesn't come through by then.
"It's not a light switch we can just turn on or off," said Leanne Redden, executive director of the Regional Transportation Authority, which oversees planning and funding for the area's transit agencies. "Even if we find funding at a future point, it's a slow process to kind of unwind the unwinding."
