After months of talk threatening service cuts and mass layoffs, lawmakers in Springfield passed a funding plan for the CTA and other public transit early Friday morning.
The House and Senate approved the $1.5B spending plan on mainly party-line votes with Democratic supermajorities prevailing.
The bill diverts $860M in state gas taxes and $200M from the fund for road construction to mass transit.
There will be at least a .25% sales tax hike in the collar counties and a 45-cent hike on tolls.
House Republicans objected to sending money to Chicago area transit instead of roads in downstate districts.
The Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition, which is made up of labor and environmental groups, says the bill will improve safety and increase the frequency and reliability of buses and trains.
Chicago representative Eva-Dina Delgado led negotiations and said the legislation stops “kicking the can down the road and bringing an end to an era of patchwork solutions and bureaucratic dysfunction”.
Lawmakers dropped proposals to pay for the legislation with new taxes on streaming services, large concerts like Lollapalooza and unrealized capital gains for the ultra-rich.
The measure also creates a new governing body for the CTA, Metra and Pace.
Pace’s executive director says the funding will allow it to run more buses, including more on expressway and tollway shoulders.
The measure now heads to Governor Pritzker’s desk.