Illinois House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch touts success of transit funding bill
Illinois House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch (D-Westchester) was at Chicago's Union Station Thursday morning to tout a successful legislative session that ended with a transit funding bill.
Welch joined Democratic leaders to discuss some of the big issues with which the Illinois General Assembly dealt during the Fall Veto Session.
On Friday of last week, Illinois lawmakers passed a compromise bill to fund public transit in an overnight session, delivering $1.5 billion in new funding for mass transit systems across the state, and creating a new governing body to oversee the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra, and Pace.
Supporters said it will avert the need for drastic cuts to the Chicago area's mass transit systems without a significant statewide tax hike.
"We did that without new taxes on ridesharing, on food delivery, on streamlining services, or on homes," Welch said. "We improved public transit in Illinois with reforms and funding."
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker still needs to sign the bill into law.