The RTA would be renamed the Northern Illinois Transit Authority and have authority to set fares and budgets for the CTA, Metra and Pace.

The new regional board would have 20 members — 17 of whom also would serve on one of the boards of CTA, Metra and Pace.

The structure is an attempt to provide the governance reform that legislators have demanded in return for additional funding needed by the mass transit agencies to deal with a $771 million annual funding shortfall when pandemic-era federal support ends next year. The transit agencies have said they need $1.5 billion a year to deal with deferred maintenance and provide additional service.

The bill does not include revenue options, and it remains unclear if lawmakers will punt consideration of the funding structure until later in the year. Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, is expected to propose his own measure that will address governance of the agencies and put forward a mix of revenue ideas that have been hotly debated in recent weeks.

POWER SHIFT

Under the proposal, the governor, mayor of Chicago, Cook County Board president and the presidents of collar-county boards each would appoint five members of the NITA board.

The legislation also would change the structure of the CTA board, potentially weakening the mayor’s control.

The CTA board structure would change, moving to a six-member board from seven members while diluting the influence of Chicago’s mayor. Currently the mayor appoints four members with the governor having three appointments.

Under the new structure, the governor would appoint one member, the mayor would have three appointments, and the Cook County Board president would have two appointments.

The first chairman of the board would be required to be approved by the Illinois Senate, further eroding mayoral control. Future board presidents would be selected through a simple majority of the CTA board. Future employment contracts over $100,000 at the CTA would also need to be reviewed by the new NITA board for a period of 14 days. 

Like Metra and Pace, the CTA would no longer be able to issue its own bonds except to refinance existing debt.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether he would support any bill that weakens his influence over the CTA.

Metra would have an 11-member board under the proposal, with six members coming from the NITA board. The collar-county board presidents would appoint five members, the Cook County board president would appoint three, the mayor of Chicago would appoint two and the governor would appoint one member.

OTHER STEPS

Other provisions in the bill would create a new transit law enforcement task force in an effort to address concerns about passenger safety, particularly on the CTA. The task force would be established by the Cook County Sheriff to establish a public transit safety program within three years and be disbanded.

Johnson said yesterday it would be possible to separate the governance reform while kicking a revenue package until the November veto session, but argued “there is some urgency to respond to the financial needs that exist today.”

“There’s no secret that we have to move with some expediency to ensure that the funding is there. The timing of it all, probably some room there, but not very much,” he said.

If funding is not approved by May 31, the CTA would need to hold a series of hearings in the fall ahead of approving a 2026 budget that outlines the significant cuts to services that will be implemented if the new revenue is not secured. That would create an even tighter timeline to provide clarity over new funding sources.

“I am calculating the distance between ensuring that there’s funding and how we can continue to grow our system, and we’re going to stick to it and work as hard as we can these next few days to be able to come to a reasonable resolution to ensure that the 300 million riders that we had just last year alone that that number continues to expand,” Johnson said.