IL Dem touts ‘great job’ on transit, GOP candidate laments ‘bailout’ for Chicago

By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Taxes and tolls will rise for many Illinoisans in 2026 if Gov. J.B. Pritzker signs legislation to fund public transportation.

Senate Bill 2111 went to the governor’s desk Nov. 25. Pritzker said he looked forward to signing the bill after the General Assembly passed it early Halloween morning.

SB 2111, the Northern Illinois Transit Authority Act, raises tolls on Illinois tollways, takes gas tax money from the state’s road fund to fund public transit and allows the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) to raise sales taxes by a quarter of a percent in Chicago-area counties.

The package passed after more than two years of discussion centered around a roughly $770 million transit “fiscal cliff” looming in 2026, but the number was revised last summer to around $250 million.

A previous transit-funding effort failed to clear the Illinois House during the 2025 spring session, in part due to a $1.50 retail delivery tax Democratic lawmakers sought to impose on Illinois consumers.

State Rep. Barbara Hernandez, D-Aurora, said she was in the House transit working group and believes the legislation is fair to suburbanites who expressed concerns.

“Of course the funding portion was a big component of it, and I think we did a great job. It didn’t impact families as much as it could have,” Hernandez told The Center Square.

Ajay Gupta is a Republican candidate for the Illinois House seat currently held by Janet Yang Rohr, D-Naperville.

Gupta said SB 2111 was a terrible idea, especially for his district in DuPage and Will counties.

“Voices there are being sidelined, and consumers there are being asked to bail out a failing Chicago system,” Gupta told The Center Square.

Much of the funding provided by the transit package is slated to be directed to the Chicago Transit Authority. The agency has drawn criticism in recent weeks for a series of violent incidents and a lack of overall safety.

The Federal Transit Administration wrote to Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson last Monday, demanding that the CTA “develop and implement a plan to measurably reduce assaults on transit workers and passengers and address unsafe conditions that have contributed to increased crime on CTA’s bus and rail system.”

Failure to act, Federal Transit Administrator Marc Molinaro warned, could result in the withholding of federal funds.

CTA fiscal management has also raised questions. The Red Line rail extension project on Chicago’s South Side had an estimated cost of $5.75 billion for 5.5 miles of track before President Donald Trump’s administration froze funding and targeted it for federal review.

Gupta agreed with House Republicans who opposed the transit package, saying it was a bailout for Chicago.

“No more money until the malfeasance and mis-governance is addressed first,” Gupta said.

Hernandez insisted that SB 2111 would improve governance.

“I believe so. It’s going to change everything. It’s going to change the whole governance portion of it. It’s going to create a new board. It’s going to create new policy in that board that will provide more accountability,” Hernandez said.

When first introduced, SB 2111 provided that a person operating a bicycle on Illinois roadways “shall not be prohibited from side-by-side riding, riding contraflow on one-way streets, and rolling through stop signs at clear intersections.”

The language was removed during fall veto session and replaced with the transit package text that passed Oct. 31.

SB 2111 will take effect June 1, 2026 if the governor signs it into law.