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Pritzker Approves $2.5 Billion Mass Transit Bailout. This week, Governor JB Pritzker signed into law a $2.5 billion bailout of Chicago’s mass transit system.
Passed well after midnight on the final night of the fall Veto Session, the Democrats’ Mass Transit Bailout includes $1.5 Billion in tax increases and $1 Billion in higher Tollway charges to fix a $230 million transit shortfall.
SB 2111 (PA 104-457) raises the RTA sales tax in the Chicago region, takes $1 billion from the Road Fund, and raises tolls by 60% for passenger vehicles and 30% for commercial vehicles. What’s even worse is that this isn’t a one-time bailout – this law ties toll increases to inflation and revenue dedicated to the Road Fund will instead go to mass transit in perpetuity.
The Democrats’ Mass Transit Bailout breaks both the “lock box” and a longstanding road funding deal. In 2016, Illinois voters overwhelmingly approved the “Safe Roads” constitutional amendment to preserve motor fuel tax funds for road and bridge construction. SB 2111 shifts $473 million each year away from downstate roads and bridges and sends it to the Chicago region for mass transit purposes. The bailout also does not include any transit fare increases to pay for the plan and goes so far as to prohibit any fare increases for the first year.
After Governor JB Pritzker signed the $2.5 billion transit reform proposal into law, House Minority Leader Tony McCombie released the following statement:
“Downstate Illinois is being forced to bail out Chicago’s broken transit system.
“This law permanently diverts more than $1 billion every year from the Road Fund, money that was constitutionally promised to fix roads and bridges and sends it to prop up transit operations driven by years of mismanagement. This is one of the largest Road Fund diversions in Illinois history, along with tollway surcharges and sales tax hikes that will hit families and workers statewide.
“Roads and bridges are not optional, and the promises made to voters through the Safe Roads Constitutional Amendment should not be broken to rescue Chicago transit from years of bad management.
“Illinois families deserve accountability, not another backroom bailout.”
Deputy Republican Leader Norine Hammond called the Democrats’ Mass Transit Bailout the largest Road Fund raid in Illinois history. SB 2111 breaks the longstanding transportation funding deal that was a 55/45 Downstate/Chicago split. The Democrats’ Mass Transit Bailout sweeps nearly $500 million from downstate road funding, resulting in an 85/15 Chicago/Downstate split.
Assistant Republican Leader Dan Ugaste released the following statement:
“I understand the need to have a functioning mass transit system in northeastern Illinois, but what we were told was a $230 million shortfall has turned into a $2.5 billion solution. The new proposal raises tolls by $1 billion, hikes transit sales taxes by nearly $500 million, and raids funding designated for downstate road and bridge projects. With a 60 percent hike on passenger vehicles and 30 percent hike on commercial vehicles, the impacts will be devastating for working families and businesses alike who count on Chicagoland toll roads for their transportation needs.
“The law also does not include any transit fare increases, instead leaving downstate and suburban toll road commuters to foot the bill,” Rep. Ugaste continued. “Both the collar counties and downstate are being taken advantage of. Spending more money than we need to right now is not the answer.”
State Representative Regan Deering released the following statement after Governor Pritzker signed SB 2111 into law, which uses downstate funds to bail out Chicago’s mismanaged mass transit system.
“Only in Illinois do Democrats take a solvable problem and turn it into massive tax hikes on Illinois families,” said Rep. Deering. “This legislation was rushed, turning a $230 million shortfall into a $2.5 billion solution. In order to pay for the City of Chicago’s mess, Illinoisans will see taxes and tolls raised. It’s unfair to downstate Illinoisans whose tax dollars are diverted to bail out yet another mess created by Chicago’s perpetual mismanagement.”
ENERGY CRISIS
‘Credible Risk’ of Illinois Energy Shortfalls. A newly released study by three state agencies has detailed the ‘credible risk’ of electricity shortages across Illinois within the next five years.
The 2025 Resource Adequacy Study by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, the Illinois Power Agency, and the Illinois Commerce Commission warns that “conditions create a credible risk of regional capacity shortfalls that will impact Illinois’ future ability to import power during critical hours and may cause reliability issues in Illinois even if Illinois market zones have enough capacity to meet their [resource adequacy] requirements as determined by [PJM and MISO].”
Assistant Republican Leader C.D. Davidsmeyer, the GOP Spokesperson on the House Public Utilities Committee, has repeatedly warned that Illinois’ flawed energy policies would lead to energy shortages and skyrocketing electric bills for Illinois consumers.
“In 2016, the General Assembly passed the Future Energy Jobs Act. In 2021, they passed the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act. During 2025’s Veto Session, the Democrat majority passed the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act. All the while, they promised their green energy initiatives would ensure reliability and bring costs down for consumers,” said Rep. Davidsmeyer.
“The Democrat majority has doubled and now tripled down on bad, unrealistic energy policy. They haven’t provided even an inkling of a plan on how to keep the lights on. Meanwhile, downstate is littered with windmills and solar panels that are unreliable, unproductive, and subsidized by taxpayers and increased electric rates.
“This radical political agenda has crippled our power generation capacity, directly leading to the energy crisis we are facing today. Illinois needs to go back to the drawing board to change our failing energy policies. We must end these green energy fantasies and power Illinois with reliable energy sources, including coal, natural gas, and nuclear power.”
Following the release of the 2025 Resource Adequacy Study by the Illinois Power Agency, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, and the Illinois Commerce Commission, warning of impending energy shortages, House Deputy Minority Leader Ryan Spain released the following statement:
“Illinois Democrats have promised their green energy initiatives would ensure reliability and bring down costs. Instead, they’ve crippled our energy supply and caused costs to skyrocket for ratepayers. The report from the Illinois Power Agency yesterday reaffirms the warnings Republicans have been making about these failed policies.
“Illinois used to be a net-exporter of energy, but now, not only are we a net-importer of energy, we are having to import energy generated by coal and gas from other states to meet the needs in our state. All because Democrats refuse to accept the reality that we need an all-of-the-above approach to ensure we have an adequate energy supply to keep rates affordable and ensure reliability.”
· Clinton, Dresden nuclear power plants granted licensure extensions
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) granted a major inspection-based thumbs-up this week to two Illinois nuclear power complexes. The findings were key factors in this week’s major license renewal announcement, in which the Clinton and Dresden nuclear power plants were granted 20-year license extensions. The extensions will allow Clinton to operate through 2047, while the two Dresden reactors were approved through 2049 and 2051.
Constellation Energy stated that the renewals would maintain the long-term operation of 2,200 jobs directly located at the two complexes. Thousands of additional Illinois jobs are indirectly supported and created by these two plant sites. In addition to passing inspections, Constellation also pledged to invest $370 million in safety-related and operational plant upgrades and refits. Constellation has made various nuclear-power-related commitments with firms that operate or contract with data centers, such as Meta Platforms/Facebook, to provide substantial amounts of power on a 24/7 basis for essential use. Within current technological engineering skill sets, only big-dam hydroelectricity and nuclear power can “green”-meet these 24/7 needs. The power plant re-licensures were announced on Tuesday, December 16.
CIVIL LAW
Three Illinois counties again named ‘judicial hellholes’. Along with Cook County, Madison County, and St. Clair County in Illinois, the American Tort Reform Foundation (ATRF) singles out court jurisdictions throughout the U.S. where trial lawyers flock to file their cases. When they initiate a case within these counties, they can use disputed case laws to push towards multi-million-dollar judgements and settlements, often after lengthy pre-trial procedures have taken place and before a case goes to trial or a verdict is reached. Many of these jurisdictions, including these Illinois counties, have plaintiff-friendly “revolving door” judicial benches. In these courtrooms, the judges often come from the ranks of the plaintiff bar or expect to go into (or back to) this line of work after they take off their judicial robes. The Foundation’s “judicial hellhole” Illinois courts sit in the county seats of Chicago, Alton, and Belleville.
Drivers on Illinois highways get a first-hand look at how profitable the profession of plaintiffs’ law has become – on some stretches of roadway, a substantial percentage of the billboards and road advertising consists of aggressive pushes by trial-attorney firms for clients and business. The Foundation reports that Illinois trial lawyers spend advertising money at a rate of $110.4 million/year to push their services. These billboards and other advertising are evidence, the ATRF says, that some courts are flawed and, in some cases, even corrupt. The Foundation points to unclear case-law language, ambiguous definitions of what constitutes tortious conduct, and patterns of “never-ending litigation” as elements that can force a defendant to offer to settle a case as a ransom payment to make the case’s trial lawyers go away.
The Foundation warns that employers and taxpayers are continuing to move their economic activities away from “judicial hellholes.” The ATRF also noted patterns of court activities in states with fast-growing populations and economies, headed by Colorado and North Carolina, where they see civil legal processes as being carried out in a manner that is closer to fairness for both plaintiffs and defendants.
EDUCATION
IHSA approves major high school football playoff expansion. The Illinois High School Association, which oversees interscholastic sports in Illinois, has approved adding another week of playoff games to the high school football schedule. The playoff expansion will require the start of regular-season football games to be moved up by one week, which will eliminate the traditional Illinois high school football “scrimmage week.”
The football playoff expansion drew serious debate from proponents and opponents, with supporters reporting that the revised time period will help remedy scheduling problems with the former schedule. The rules change will expand the total number of playoff teams invited from 256 football teams to 384 teams. Opponents pointed out that the revised schedule and playoff expansion will allow teams that have played nine games to make the playoffs after having won only four games.
The IHSA made other changes to its sports rules, including a slot of time for centralized video review of any referee call that a football player be suspended from play after expulsion from a game. After the video review, the suspension order could be cancelled or modified, and the player’s right to suit up could be restored.
In a major change to its by-laws, the IHSA expanded its board of directors from 11 to 15 members. The IHSA announced its rules and by-law changes on Tuesday, December 16.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
AT&T landline services going away. Based on a recent company announcement, customers of AT&T landline service will be grandfathered in, but no new landlines are being offered. The AT&T cellular phone company is the successor-in-interest to “Illinois Bell,” the regulated telephone company that offered landline service for many decades. As Illinois Bell, the firm controlled a dominant share of the Illinois telephone service marketplace during the landline era. As a landline firm, it put into place many of the core elements of Illinois-based phone service that have continued in use by wireless customers, such as the 3-1-2 area code offered to some customers based in downtown Chicago.
However, corporate-level telecom engineers and technicians no longer want to work with landlines and the copper-wire-based technology they use. Limited maintenance service will be performed on the old lines until the scheduled complete phaseout of AT&T landline service in 2027. The households that continue to maintain AT&T landline service, a number estimated to be greater than 3 million in Illinois, are being sent letters urging them to consider changing over to digital service.
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS
With Hanukkah ending on Monday, December 22, Christmas coming on Thursday, December 25, and New Year’s Eve set for Wednesday, December 31, “Week in Review” will be coming back on Friday, January 9. We wish all readers a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!