BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (WMBD) — Illinois’ Speaker of the House on Tuesday confirmed that Downstate will get something out of the Chicago transit bill.
The Windy City’s transport system is facing a fiscal cliff. It needs additional funding, or thousands of jobs could be lost, and service lines could be cut.
While the Speaker of the House Chris Welch said it will benefit Downstate, he can’t give any details on what changes it will make to statewide transit.
“Transit is important not just to northern Illinois, but to downstate Illinois just as well,” Welch said. “And if we get the policy right, it’s going to be a positive for all of Illinois.”
In the last days of the session, a funding proposal included a statewide delivery tax. All non-medical and grocery deliveries would be taxed $1.50. That bill passed the Senate but died in the House.
Since then, some people in Downstate have been strongly opposed to helping Chicago find funding outside its borders for its vast transit system.
Bloomington’s state Representative Sharon Chung said she’ll make sure that Central Illinois gets a good deal.
“The fiscal cliff in Chicagoland they’re experiencing, we are subject to that as well,” Chung said. “So, anything that happens with transit is also going to help us out as well.”
Regardless of what happens, lawmakers hope to pass some kind of funding plan for Chicago transit in the veto session.
Also on the agenda in the October session is an answer to the high energy bills in Illinois. Utility prices have gone up due to a supply and demand issue, with data centers requiring more energy and demand being cut from the shutdown of coal power plants.
Recent cuts to solar tax credits haven’t helped either. The Big Beautiful Bill cut Biden-era solar tax credits that helped build more solar in Illinois.
Welch said they can’t fill in any holes made by the federal government, but the state should still look to do something about energy.
“I don’t know anyone who’s happy with the cost of their utility bills right now,” he said. “We’ve had working groups working diligently all summer long on this issue, and we are hoping that we can get something done here in the upcoming veto session.”
In other issues, Illinois was the center of a map redistricting tussle after Texas Democrats came to the state to block a mid-year redistricting bill.
That initiative was led by President Trump and Texas Governor Greg Abbott. The change in maps could give Republicans five more House seats from the Lone Star State.
Some Democrats want Illinois to do the same and change their congressional seat districts to potentially bring more Democrats into Congress.
Other people in the state, especially Republicans, strongly oppose the idea. Former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood is attempting a fair maps initiative that could change how the state makes its maps.
Welch said he is happy with the maps. Thanks to the most recent map change, Chung was able to join the House.
“As a result of that map, Sharon Chung was the first Korean American to serve in the House of Representatives,” he said. “We haven’t had any conversations regarding redoing our maps in the middle of a decade.”
Welch came to Bloomington on his district tour, meeting fellow Democrat House members and their constituents. He said the biggest issue he continually hears is the cost of living.
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