This morning’s passage of the transit bill (the most comprehensive and consequential state legislative policy on public transit in the history of this country) marks the culmination of years of deliberate, sustained work to build the transit system Illinoisans deserve.
When I first came to the General Assembly in 2019, we fought to put dedicated transit funding in the budget for the first time in a generation. In 2020, as COVID upended ridership and revenue, we acted quickly to stabilize the system and protect its workers. In 2021, we directed CMAP to produce the PART Report — a comprehensive roadmap for governance, funding, and coordination across our transit agencies. In 2023, we passed legislation to strengthen safety and security protocols for riders and operators. And in 2024, Speaker Welch convened the House Working Group on Public Transit to weave together all of that progress into one generational framework.
Today, that work has come full circle.
Many tried to derail this effort along the way. They performed premature autopsies on it, declaring it dead before its time. But we stayed the course, because that’s what Illinois riders, workers, and taxpayers deserved.
This victory belongs not only to legislators, but to the advocates, labor partners, and business leaders who fought alongside us. Transit is not just a Chicago issue; it’s a statewide economic engine. It connects downstate manufacturers to urban markets, suburban workers to opportunity, and every community in between to the promise of growth and mobility.
I’m proud to have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Rep. Eva-Dina Delgado, Senator Ram Villivalam, Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, President Don Harmon, and Governor JB Pritzker and grateful to the countless partners who never gave up.
Illinois is growing up and choosing reliability, equity, and connection over complacency. This is what progress looks like.