Illinois General Assembly – Veto Session
As the fall veto session concluded last week, two massive pieces of legislation were passed.
Mass Transit
On a mostly partisan roll call, the legislature pushed through a $1.5 Billion Mass Transit funding and reorganization bill in the wee hours of the last day of veto session. Around 2:00 AM on Friday, the House passed the package on a vote of 73-32, and after 4:00 AM. the Senate approved the measure by a 36-21 margin. The bill includes 1.5 billion dollars for mass transit, mostly in the northeastern part of the state.
In addition to significant increases in tolls, the legislation also includes a nearly half-billion-dollar tax increase.
- It raises $478 million by increasing the existing regional transportation authority sales tax by .25% to 1% in Lake, McHenry, Kane, DuPage, and Will Counties and to 1.25% in Cook County
- It redirects $860 million from the Road Fund. (The fund, as its name implies collects sales tax on motor fuel purchases, that are used for the construction and maintenance of Illinois roadways).
- It also sweeps $200 million in revenue created by interest on the Road Fund
- The bill also provides for a $0.45 increase on tolls paid by passenger vehicles on the Illinois Tollway (30% increase for commercial vehicles). The increase is expected to potentially generate $1 billion annually for road projects, replacing the redirected Road Fund revenue.
- Finally, the bill establishes a new governing body, the Northern Illinois Transit Authority, to oversee the CTA, Metra, and Pace, replacing the existing Regional Transportation Authority (RTA).
Energy Omnibus legislation
The veto session also saw action on Senate Bill 25, which supporters call the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act (CRGA), but opponents call an expensive overreach. The legislation is clearly the most impactful energy-related legislation since 2021’s Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) and will result in fee increases on consumers’ utility bills.
Major items in the bill include:
- Battery Storage – The legislation includes a new incentive structure for energy storage projects, like the state funds for wind and solar projects. These will result in new charges for ratepayers. Proponents of the legislation say that savings from more storage on the grid will offset these charges.
- Energy Efficiency – The bill adds new requirement for energy efficiency programs from electric and natural gas utilities. These are meant to lower cost to consumers by lowering demand.
- Nuclear – The bill lifts the moratorium on large-scale nuclear power plants, but hikes the fees paid by plant operators
- New Regulatory Authority – Perhaps most concerning, is that the bill gives the Illinois Commerce Commission new authority for “integrated resource planning” a new way of inserting itself into controlling supply-side issues and managing demand.
- Data Center Air Regulations – The bill requires “always-on” power to operate back-up generators used by data centers
- Virtual power plans and time-of-use – The bill requires large utilities to create “virtual power plant” programs and “time-of-use” rate plans. This allows small-scale solar and battery projects to deliver energy throughout the day. It also allows for variable rates in peak and non-peak times.
- Geothermal energy – The bill also funds geothermal heating, a technology that uses near-constant underground heat to offset the need for electric or fossil fuel-based heating
- Thermal energy networks – The bill creates a new state-backed loan program for thermal energy network projects.
- Labor protections – New requirements for Project Labor Agreements (PLA) on community solar projects were included to garner support from organized labor.
Governor Pritzker has indicated his intent to sign both bills.
NACC DC Fly-in
Despite the current turmoil due to the federal government shutdown, NACC moved forward with a planned DC fly-in. On the trip, were NACC President and CEO Kaylin Risvold, NACC Board member Kris Hartner of Naperville Running Company, and me.
The US Chamber of Commerce hosted us in their Capitol Hill offices, where we received an issues briefing from Tim Monahan, Vice President and Managing Director of Government Affairs.
We were able to meet with Congressman Bill Foster (D-11), Congressman Sean Casten (D-6), and Congresswoman Lauren Underwood. We discussed the government shutdown, as well as several policy matters impacting local businesses including taxes, workforce issues, and tariffs.
In an effort to gain a more bipartisan understanding of national issues, we also met with staff from the Office of Congressman Darin LaHood (R-16).
The trip was a tremendous opportunity to meet directly with policymakers, learn more about the impact of national issues, and to share the perspectives of the Naperville area business community with their representatives in Congress.