Pritzker discusses veto session toll hike, right-to-die legislation
A 45-cent toll hike included in a bill passed by the General Assembly last week to avert a public transit budget crisis isn’t set in stone, Gov. JB Pritzker said Monday.
Asked about the increase, Pritzker said the legislation states “that if the tollway board decides something different or … the attorneys, the bond lawyers tell them that this isn’t something the legislature can opine about — the legislature would urge the toll authority to move forward with a hike in the tolls.”
The toll spike was part of the deal making that resulted in a bailout package for Metra, Pace and the CTA approved Friday during legislature’s veto session. It would raise about $1 billion for tollway road construction.
“The toll authority has been looking at expansion, and renovation and modernization,” Pritzker said at a ribbon-cutting in Glen Ellyn. “And so there was always going to be some capital program that would be brought to the tollway. All that the legislature did was sort of codify that, indeed, that’s what will happen.
“And again, it’s to pay for upgrades. This is all about infrastructure and capital — it doesn’t have anything to do directly with operating dollars necessary for our transit system.”
Another issue Pritzker addressed was the “medical aid in dying” bill passed last week and whether he would sign it. The legislation gives terminally ill individuals of sound mental state the option to end their lives with a lethal dose of medication prescribed by a doctor.
“I’m looking at it,” said Pritzker, adding he is taking input from stakeholders.
“I know how terrible it is that someone who is in the last six months of their life would be experiencing terrible pain and anguish and I know people who’ve gone through that. It hits me deeply.
“I know people who were advocates for the bill, I know people who were opposed to the bill. All of that I’m taking it into consideration as I reread the bill and consider what’s the best thing for the people of Illinois.”
The governor also responded to a question about dropping an F-bomb regarding President Donald Trump during an Oct. 19 speech to the Illinois Federation of Teachers.
Pritzker was critiquing the Trump administration’s evisceration of the U.S. Department of Education at the time.
“Books are being banned. History is being erased. Republicans want to take billions away from public schools and pump it into private institutions. They want to punish teachers for telling the truth,” Pritzker said during the address.
“And I’m sorry to be vulgar, but Donald Trump and his cronies can (expletive) all the way off,” he added.
On Monday, Pritzker said “frankly, all the limits are off with Donald Trump as president in terms of what our reactions are to what he has to say. He uses that word.
“In that moment, I really was feeling like all of the students in our public schools are being abused by this administration and it upsets me greatly. And that was the word that came to me to describe it.”