With 1 month left in session, lawmakers near deal on transit reform

Lawmakers apparently are close to a deal to resolve one of Springfield’s most hotly contested issues this session: transit reform.

Public transit agencies in Chicagoland — a region with roughly two-thirds of Illinois’ population — face a collective $770 million budget gap in the upcoming fiscal year. Heads of the agencies have turned to the state to fill that gap, but lawmakers have consistently said that reform of the agencies’ government and better oversight are required before addressing funding.

If lawmakers don’t reach a deal to reform the northeastern Illinois transit system and introduce new funding before their May 31 adjournment, transit officials say it will result in significant cuts, which would result in a “nightmare scenario,” according to Regional Transportation Authority spokesperson Tina Fassett Smith.

Sen. Don DeWitte, R-St. Charles, told reporters this week that lawmakers in the Senate “are very close to agreed language on governance,” meaning a deal is close.

DeWitte, a former mayor of St. Charles and ranking Republican on the Senate’s Transportation committee, said the deal would leave in place the three “service boards” that operate transit in Chicago and the suburbs: the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra commuter rail service and Pace Suburban Bus.

The agreement, according to DeWitte, would provide new oversight powers to a “newly empowered” RTA, the agency that currently handles some financial oversight for the region’s transit agencies.

DeWitte was on the 16-member board of directors for the RTA for five years before joining the Illinois Senate.

Several proposals for reform have been pitched in recent months, with the plan outlined by DeWitte being similar to what he called the “labor bill” — a plan initially put forward by a coalition of organized labor groups and unions.

But the brief description has superficial similarities to a plan proposed by RTA chairman and former Republican state senator Kirk Dillard. That plan also would empower the RTA.

A more aggressive reform plan, which would have dissolved the three service boards and consolidated them into one agency, was proposed by transit activists and environmentalists. That consolidation plan was formalized into bills presented by Chicago Democrats Sen. Ram Villivalam and Rep. Eva-Dina Delgado.

While DeWitte is familiar with the negotiations, others involved differ on how close lawmakers are to a deal.

Villivalam, who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee, said he and his colleagues are “continuing discussions” about the bill.

“As we head into the remaining weeks of our spring legislative session, I look forward to working toward a solution that provides safe, reliable, accessible, and integrated public transit to the northeastern Illinois region,” Villivalam said in a statement.

The House of Representatives might bring other hurdles to a transit reform deal as lawmakers barrel toward their expected adjournment.

Rep. Marty Moylan, D-Des Plaines, who chairs a House committee that would likely hear a transit reform bill, has said repeatedly that no bill will be called in his committee that doesn’t meet his standards, including addressing concerns about safety on trains and buses.

But he echoed DeWitte’s read on the situation that a proposal similar to organized labor’s pitch will win out.

“That seems to be the consensus of the General Assembly: Leave the boards in, have them do some reforms, and let’s move forward,” Moylan told Capitol News Illinois. “We’re making progress with some of the transit agencies. The RTA still doesn’t get it, but they will by the end.”

The RTA, to raise awareness and potentially influence negotiations in Springfield, launched the “Save Transit Now” ad campaign earlier this month. That campaign features television and radio ads in English and Spanish as well as ads on billboards, digital signs, newspapers and social media.

The campaign encourages RTA riders to write emails to their lawmakers with the subject line “Save Transit Now: Support $1.5 billion and an empowered RTA” and a prewritten message.

This frustrated several lawmakers involved in transit negotiations.

Moylan said the agency was “wasting all kinds of money” on the campaign, which isn’t going to make the General Assembly change its policies.

“It’s not how it works,” Moylan said. “It may have worked years ago, but not now.”

Fassett Smith, the director of communications at the RTA, said the $750,000 price tag was an upper estimate of the cost and said it is the agencies’ “obligation” to make sure transit riders were aware of the RTA’s dire financial straits.

Another potential wrinkle as lawmakers wrap up negotiations comes from Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who is in Springfield this week to meet with lawmakers about the city’s legislative priorities. Among them: transit funding.

“The city of Chicago deserves its fair share, and we’re going to continue to advocate for that, as I’ve already done,” Johnson said at a Tuesday news conference.

Johnson has repeatedly in recent months pointed out that Chicagoans make up the majority of ridership among the three transit agencies that make up the RTA. When asked Tuesday whether that means Chicagoans should also be funding a majority of public transportation in the region, Johnson didn’t rule it out.

“That’s a conclusion that one could draw,” Johnson said.