Article Summary<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n- A key Illinois House Democrat filed a bill to raise up to $2 billion to fund public transportation in the Chicago area.<\/li>\n
- The proposal would create taxes on entertainment and billionaires\u2019 investments while raising an existing sales tax in the Chicago region. It also would allow more municipalities to install speed cameras.<\/li>\n
- The Chicago Transit Authority faces a more than $200 million shortfall in 2026 before all three major Chicago-area agencies run a more than $800 million deficit in 2027 when pandemic relief money runs out.<\/li>\n
- It\u2019s unclear if the House plan has support in the Senate, which already passed a funding solution in May that House Democratic leaders called \u201cconcerning.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\nSPRINGFIELD \u2014 Two key negotiators on public transit reform in the Illinois House filed a bill Tuesday to raise up to $2 billion for public transit by taxing entertainment and the unrealized investment gains of billionaires.<\/p>\n
Chicago area public transit agencies for months have argued that the new funding is necessary to avert a funding shortfall and service cuts.<\/p>\n
But even as Chicago Democrats Kam Buckner and Eva-Dina Delgado indicated they believed the measure would pass in the House, it has a long way to go before making it to Gov. JB Pritzker for consideration. The Senate passed its own funding plan in May that included a controversial per-package delivery fee, but it went nowhere in the House.<\/p>\n
The future of Senate Bill 2111<\/a> in the Senate is not clear, however. Delgado said the proposal represents what House Democrats think are the best solutions to pay for public transportation. She said a tax on rideshares, deliveries and real estate transfers that the Senate passed in May were \u201cdefinitely concerning\u201d to House Democrats.<\/p>\nSen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the House\u2019s proposal.<\/p>\n
Buckner and Delgado said of the $1.5 billion and $2 billion that would be raised, about $220 million would go to downstate transit agencies.<\/p>\n
The bill would include a series of reforms similar to what the Senate passed this spring to create a stronger oversight board in the region and improve fare and schedule integration.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe heard the characterization over the last three or four months that this couldn’t be a Chicago bailout,\u201d Buckner told Capitol News Illinois. \u201cSo, No. 1, what is in this bill is very clear that it is a transformative transit package for the entire state of Illinois. No. 2, when you look at what we’re asking in order to get to that number … the majority of the dollars are coming from the city of Chicago proper, and then the collar counties.\u201d<\/p>\n
How it\u2019s funded<\/strong><\/h3>\nThe Regional Transportation Authority, Chicago Transit Agency, Metra commuter rail and Pace Suburban Bus collectively face a $230 million funding shortfall in 2026 as pandemic relief money runs out. The funding deficit is projected to grow to $834 million in 2027 and $937 million in 2028. Without action in Springfield to plug that gap, the transit agencies have said they could be forced to cut services by 40%.<\/p>\n
The largest portion of funding \u2014 about $700 million \u2014 would come from a 7% statewide tax on entertainment ranging from streaming services to live shows and other ticketed events.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat would help us not only address issues in the northeastern Illinois region, but also downstate transit agencies that are looking at some possible cuts in the future if they don’t get some additional funding,\u201d Delgado told Capitol News Illinois.<\/p>\n
The sponsors said a $5 surcharge would also be tacked onto ticket purchases for large events and raise about $125 million. The surcharge would apply statewide but would mostly be paid for by those attending large events like concerts and sporting events in the Chicago area. The charge would allow ticketholders to use their ticket to ride public transportation to and from the event, Delgado said, with the goal being to change people\u2019s travel behavior to large events.<\/p>\n
Buckner and Delgado said the measure would also tax billionaires on unrealized gains on investment assets at a 4.95% rate \u2014 at the state\u2019s current income tax rate \u2014 to generate about $300 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you’re going to go to anybody for funds, why not go to those who are most able to pay and making sure that those folks who have the means will be able to contribute to the system,\u201d Delgado said.<\/p>\n
The existing sales tax<\/a> imposed by the RTA in Cook County and the collars would increase by 0.25 percentage points to 1.25% in Cook County and 1% in the collars. And another estimated $266 million would come from allowing municipalities to install speed cameras near churches, parks, schools and hospitals. Municipalities would be allowed to keep half of the revenue.<\/p>\n\u201cA number of mayors around the state and village presidents have asked if they could get the same ability that Chicago does have to put up speed cameras,\u201d Buckner said.<\/p>\n
The plan is expected to face pushback from Republicans \u2014 and maybe some Democrats \u2014 in both chambers who have worried about increasing the tax burden on residents, especially those who don\u2019t use the Chicago area’s public transportation systems.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s reform the structures, let them get their arms around it, and then let\u2019s talk about what is needed\u201d for funding, Senate Republican Leader John Curran, R-Downers Grove, said at a news conference earlier Tuesday.<\/p>\n
New transit oversight<\/strong><\/h3>\nThe reforms in the proposal are similar to what the Senate passed in May.<\/p>\n
The bill would create the Northern Illinois Transit Authority, which would be a stronger version of the RTA and would have the ability to establish a universal fare system and coordinate scheduling between the three service agencies.<\/p>\n
\u201cComplete consolidation was going to be problematic for us and that we knew that each of these agencies kind of had their own flavor, but it was important that they were able to work together under one umbrella,\u201d Buckner said.<\/p>\n
The board would be comprised of 20 members: five appointed by the mayor of Chicago, five by the Cook County Board president, five by the governor and five collectively by Lake, McHenry, DuPage, Kane and Will counties. That makeup has drawn criticism from some suburban leaders who fear it will limit their ability to affect public transportation decisions.<\/p>\n
It would also create a law enforcement task force that will target hot spots for public safety issues on the transit systems. Other roles will be tasked with deescalating conflicts or seeking to address homelessness and mental illness \u2013 issues that can sometimes escalate into public safety issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolicing may be a part of that, but it is not the solution to everything,\u201d Delgado said. \u201cSo we have to look at what makes somebody feel safe on the system. Part of it has to do with getting more people on that system because when you’re in a full train, you feel pretty safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s in it for downstate<\/strong><\/h3>\nTransit agencies outside the Chicago area face their own funding challenges as a formula in Illinois law that directs a portion of sales tax revenue to downstate transit agencies becomes less lucrative. Those agencies are estimated to need $200 million in new revenue.<\/p>\n
Delgado said about $220 million of the new revenue would go to transit agencies outside the Chicago area.<\/p>\n
Capitol News Illinois<\/em><\/a> is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.<\/em><\/p>\nThis article<\/a> first appeared on Capitol News Illinois<\/a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/capitolnewsillinois.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/cropped-Captiol-News-Illinois.png?resize=150%2C150&quality=100&ssl=1\")
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<\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.wifr.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Article Summary A key Illinois House Democrat filed a bill to raise up to $2 billion to fund public transportation in the Chicago area. The proposal would create taxes on entertainment and billionaires\u2019 investments while raising an existing sales tax in the Chicago region. It also would allow more municipalities to install speed cameras. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2121795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2121795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2121795"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2121795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2121796,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2121795\/revisions\/2121796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2121795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2121795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2121795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n SPRINGFIELD \u2014 Two key negotiators on public transit reform in the Illinois House filed a bill Tuesday to raise up to $2 billion for public transit by taxing entertainment and the unrealized investment gains of billionaires.<\/p>\n Chicago area public transit agencies for months have argued that the new funding is necessary to avert a funding shortfall and service cuts.<\/p>\n But even as Chicago Democrats Kam Buckner and Eva-Dina Delgado indicated they believed the measure would pass in the House, it has a long way to go before making it to Gov. JB Pritzker for consideration. The Senate passed its own funding plan in May that included a controversial per-package delivery fee, but it went nowhere in the House.<\/p>\n The future of Senate Bill 2111<\/a> in the Senate is not clear, however. Delgado said the proposal represents what House Democrats think are the best solutions to pay for public transportation. She said a tax on rideshares, deliveries and real estate transfers that the Senate passed in May were \u201cdefinitely concerning\u201d to House Democrats.<\/p>\n Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the House\u2019s proposal.<\/p>\n Buckner and Delgado said of the $1.5 billion and $2 billion that would be raised, about $220 million would go to downstate transit agencies.<\/p>\n The bill would include a series of reforms similar to what the Senate passed this spring to create a stronger oversight board in the region and improve fare and schedule integration.<\/p>\n \u201cWe heard the characterization over the last three or four months that this couldn’t be a Chicago bailout,\u201d Buckner told Capitol News Illinois. \u201cSo, No. 1, what is in this bill is very clear that it is a transformative transit package for the entire state of Illinois. No. 2, when you look at what we’re asking in order to get to that number … the majority of the dollars are coming from the city of Chicago proper, and then the collar counties.\u201d<\/p>\n The Regional Transportation Authority, Chicago Transit Agency, Metra commuter rail and Pace Suburban Bus collectively face a $230 million funding shortfall in 2026 as pandemic relief money runs out. The funding deficit is projected to grow to $834 million in 2027 and $937 million in 2028. Without action in Springfield to plug that gap, the transit agencies have said they could be forced to cut services by 40%.<\/p>\n The largest portion of funding \u2014 about $700 million \u2014 would come from a 7% statewide tax on entertainment ranging from streaming services to live shows and other ticketed events.<\/p>\n \u201cThat would help us not only address issues in the northeastern Illinois region, but also downstate transit agencies that are looking at some possible cuts in the future if they don’t get some additional funding,\u201d Delgado told Capitol News Illinois.<\/p>\n The sponsors said a $5 surcharge would also be tacked onto ticket purchases for large events and raise about $125 million. The surcharge would apply statewide but would mostly be paid for by those attending large events like concerts and sporting events in the Chicago area. The charge would allow ticketholders to use their ticket to ride public transportation to and from the event, Delgado said, with the goal being to change people\u2019s travel behavior to large events.<\/p>\n Buckner and Delgado said the measure would also tax billionaires on unrealized gains on investment assets at a 4.95% rate \u2014 at the state\u2019s current income tax rate \u2014 to generate about $300 million.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you’re going to go to anybody for funds, why not go to those who are most able to pay and making sure that those folks who have the means will be able to contribute to the system,\u201d Delgado said.<\/p>\n The existing sales tax<\/a> imposed by the RTA in Cook County and the collars would increase by 0.25 percentage points to 1.25% in Cook County and 1% in the collars. And another estimated $266 million would come from allowing municipalities to install speed cameras near churches, parks, schools and hospitals. Municipalities would be allowed to keep half of the revenue.<\/p>\n \u201cA number of mayors around the state and village presidents have asked if they could get the same ability that Chicago does have to put up speed cameras,\u201d Buckner said.<\/p>\n The plan is expected to face pushback from Republicans \u2014 and maybe some Democrats \u2014 in both chambers who have worried about increasing the tax burden on residents, especially those who don\u2019t use the Chicago area’s public transportation systems.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s reform the structures, let them get their arms around it, and then let\u2019s talk about what is needed\u201d for funding, Senate Republican Leader John Curran, R-Downers Grove, said at a news conference earlier Tuesday.<\/p>\n The reforms in the proposal are similar to what the Senate passed in May.<\/p>\n The bill would create the Northern Illinois Transit Authority, which would be a stronger version of the RTA and would have the ability to establish a universal fare system and coordinate scheduling between the three service agencies.<\/p>\n \u201cComplete consolidation was going to be problematic for us and that we knew that each of these agencies kind of had their own flavor, but it was important that they were able to work together under one umbrella,\u201d Buckner said.<\/p>\n The board would be comprised of 20 members: five appointed by the mayor of Chicago, five by the Cook County Board president, five by the governor and five collectively by Lake, McHenry, DuPage, Kane and Will counties. That makeup has drawn criticism from some suburban leaders who fear it will limit their ability to affect public transportation decisions.<\/p>\n It would also create a law enforcement task force that will target hot spots for public safety issues on the transit systems. Other roles will be tasked with deescalating conflicts or seeking to address homelessness and mental illness \u2013 issues that can sometimes escalate into public safety issues.<\/p>\n \u201cPolicing may be a part of that, but it is not the solution to everything,\u201d Delgado said. \u201cSo we have to look at what makes somebody feel safe on the system. Part of it has to do with getting more people on that system because when you’re in a full train, you feel pretty safe.\u201d<\/p>\n Transit agencies outside the Chicago area face their own funding challenges as a formula in Illinois law that directs a portion of sales tax revenue to downstate transit agencies becomes less lucrative. Those agencies are estimated to need $200 million in new revenue.<\/p>\n Delgado said about $220 million of the new revenue would go to transit agencies outside the Chicago area.<\/p>\n Capitol News Illinois<\/em><\/a> is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.<\/em><\/p>\n This article<\/a> first appeared on Capitol News Illinois<\/a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>. \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.wifr.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Article Summary A key Illinois House Democrat filed a bill to raise up to $2 billion to fund public transportation in the Chicago area. The proposal would create taxes on entertainment and billionaires\u2019 investments while raising an existing sales tax in the Chicago region. It also would allow more municipalities to install speed cameras. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2121795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2121795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2121795"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2121795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2121796,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2121795\/revisions\/2121796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2121795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2121795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2121795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}How it\u2019s funded<\/strong><\/h3>\n
New transit oversight<\/strong><\/h3>\n
What\u2019s in it for downstate<\/strong><\/h3>\n
<\/p>\n<\/div>\n