* Subscribers know more. Sun-Times…

State lawmakers are on track toward overhauling the governance of mass transit across the Chicago area, but a lengthy list of proposed new taxes could derail efforts to stave off the fiscal cliff facing the CTA, Metra and Pace.

Democratic legislators on Thursday were mostly on board with the proposal to replace the Regional Transportation Authority with a strengthened new body known as the Northern Illinois Transit Authority, overseeing bus and rail service In Chicago, Cook County and the collar counties. […]

State Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, offered up a list of revenue options that he said reflected the “shared sacrifice” needed to maintain and improve service at the agencies collectively facing a $770 million shortfall next year.

That includes a 50-cent tollway surcharge, a redirection of a portion of suburban sales taxes to the new transit authority, an electric vehicle charging fee, a real estate transfer tax and a 10% tax on rideshares in the region. Interest earnings from the state road fund would also go toward transit projects.

* Daily Herald…

Several Collar County leaders called the revenue suggestions — to fix a $770 million budget hole Metra, Pace and the CTA are facing in 2026 — punitive. […]

DuPage County Chair Deb Conroy, however, told the Daily Herald she felt “blindsided.” […]

Another revenue item would allow NITA to claw back a portion of the RTA sales tax, which is dispensed to DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties for transportation and public safety.

RTA sales tax money helps pay for services including transportation and the sheriff’s office in DuPage, Conroy said. “They would take that money away and we would never see it again — $72 million (for DuPage). We would have massive layoffs.”

* Capitol News Illinois…

Suburban residents would see several new taxes to fund transit that Chicago residents already pay, among other proposals to raise revenue:

- A tax on real estate transfers in the city would be extended to the rest of Cook County and the collar counties, costing buyers and sellers of real estate $3 in taxes for every $1,000 of the transaction. Funds generated from the tax in the collar counties would go toward transit supportive developments while half the funds from suburban Cook County would go toward the CTA pensions.
- The suburbs also would be subjected to a 10% tax on rideshares.
- Counties would no longer get to keep a portion of the transit sales tax for their own infrastructure projects. Instead, it would be redirected to NITA.
- Anyone traveling on Illinois tollways, which are mostly located in the suburbs, would also have to pay an additional 50 cents per toll, with the money going toward funding public transportation.
- Electric vehicle drivers would also have to pay a tax to charge their vehicles. Drivers would be charged 6 cents per kilowatt hour at public charging stations in 2026, with the tax increasing based on inflation each year after that.

* Crain’s…

Labor joined suburban politicians in opposing the tollway surcharge.

“This proposal is inequitable, as suburban drivers would effectively subsidize urban transit systems such as the CTA, in addition to tolls they already pay,” Marc Poulos, political director for the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, testified.

* Tribune…

Tim Drea, president of the Illinois AFL-CIO, said in a statement that the two legislative proposals “(kick) the can down the road and (set) our state up for a future fiscal crisis.” The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241, which represents CTA bus operators, opposes the Senate bill.[…]

Funding for the proposed CTA Red Line extension south of 95th Street was one point of discussion in a hearing on the House version of the bill Thursday. […]

After Thursday’s House hearing, state Rep. Marty Moylan, a Des Plaines Democrat who heads one of the two House transportation committees, said the removal of the CTA’s bonding authority from the bill was an oversight and should be addressed with another amendment.

“This is a major program that’s going to redo the whole face of transit and you’ve got to look at the greater good, which is we’re going to have an operating transit system, which is going to have reforms and operating more efficiently and safe so that people can actually ride the system,” Moylan said of the transit reforms as a whole.

* WTTW…

The public charging station provision drew a mild rebuke from the Illinois Environmental Council, with the group’s legislative relations director, Dany Robles, calling it “hugely regressive” since those stations are most likely used by people in multi-unit buildings and could discourage low-income people from buying electric vehicles. But despite that caveat, Robles heaped praise on the governance changes and funding proposals.

But transit advocates and many legislators broadly praised the transit proposals at Thursday’s hearing, saying they represented meaningful reform and much-needed funding arrived at through a deliberative and collaborative process. And they lauded Villivalam, the committee’s chair, for shepherding hours upon hours of hearings from a wide array of stakeholders and everyday riders.

The presidents of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago and the Civic Federation largely praised the measure in a statement.

“This legislation creates a governance framework that prioritizes safety, service, consolidation, modernization, accountability, and effective governance. If applied with rigor, it could lead to the desired future of an integrated, accountable regional system that fosters economic growth and opportunity in a manner expected of our world-class urban region,” they said. “This is not to say that the work is done—improvements to oversight and efficiencies among others, are still needed—but the legislation maintains a fair regional balance and avoids the gridlock caused by overly burdensome voting thresholds that have historically impeded fiscally responsible decisions.”

…Adding… RTA Chairman Kirk Dillard…

We are grateful the Senate is focused on the fiscal cliff, however, as proposed, the new revenue included in yesterday’s Senate bill fails to address the region’s $771M operating budget gap and would result in significant service cuts in 2026.

Multiple revenue streams in the bill are deposited into a new transit-supportive development incentive fund and others are dedicated to capital needs, leaving less than half of the new funding available for operations.

While the bill also requires the regional entity to take on additional costs for new initiatives like a police force without dedicated funding, which could further limit available funding, our focus today is closing the budget gap to avoid service cuts in 2026.

[The] following is analysis based on best available revenue estimates:

* More…

* AP | Chicago risks severe cuts to transit. Its poorest suburbs could be hit even harder: 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.”

* Center Square | Mass transit reform legislation revealed but funding stream finds pushback: State Sen. Seth Lewis, R-Bartlett, a member of the Senate Transportation Committee, said a recently filed amendment to mass transit legislation appears to confirm Republicans’ fears that it is a Chicago-Cook County takeover of regional transit funding. “Senate Republicans have engaged in good faith negotiations for over a year now with our Democratic counterparts on the Senate Transportation Committee. But what House Democrats have put forward is essentially a bailout for Chicago, giving the city a bigger share of future revenues while cutting the suburbs out of key decisions. We are continuing to work with our Senate colleagues with hopes that the ultimate solution is fair and equitable for the entire region, including the suburban riders we represent,” he said in a statement.

* NBC Chicago | Chicago transit plan that would raise rideshare taxes, tolls blasted by critics: Under the terms of the proposed plan, the Regional Transportation Authority would be replaced by a new entity called the Northern Illinois Transit Authority, which would oversee the CTA, Metra and Pace. Governing that new organization would be a 20-member board, which would have five members appointed by the governor, five by Chicago’s mayor, five by the Cook County Board President, and five members appointed by county board chairs representing each of the five “collar” counties serviced by public transit lines.