The Illinois General Assembly passed the Northern Illinois Transit Authority Act early Friday morning, avoiding the $1.5B fiscal cliff that would be catastrophic for public transit across the state.
Adequate funding will provide the ability to reach timely agreements and will help to ensure our members have the resources needed to do their job safely,” said BRC-TCU General President Don Grissom.
“On behalf of TCU/IAM, we thank the Illinois General Assembly Members and Illinois Senators who supported this bill,” said TCU National President Arthur Maratea. “With its passage, we are one step closer to ensuring all of our members in Illinois, as well as the general public, have access to safe, reliable public transit to keep economies throughout the state moving. We thank Senator Ram Villivlam for his tireless efforts to get this legislation passed, and we urge Governor Pritzker to sign this bill into law to keep high-quality public transit available in Chicago and the rest of the state.”
Funding for public transit in Illinois is critical to TCU, with their livelihoods tied to the operations of systems like Metra. TCU members and officers have been pushing Illinois lawmakers for months, asking for a transit funding package to avoid service cuts, job losses, and the regional economic disruptions a fiscal cliff would bring.
National President Maratea continued, “I’d also like to thank our members and officers who have shown first-hand how important it is to be actively engaged in the legislative process, especially TCU National Rep. Chuck Soukup, Carmen Division Local Chairman Ramon Del Rio, BRC-TCU National Representative Ricky Reilly, retired-TCU National Representative George Spencer, TCU ARASA Division National Representative Jeff Knudsen, TCU Lodge 829 Chairman of the Board of Trustees Leighton Fraction, Lodge 6324 Local Chairman Mike Pantelin, and others involved in supporting this effort, we thank you.”
