Chicago Area Local News

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Illinois lawmakers have passed a bill to bail out mass transit with a sales tax hike, signing off on Gov. Rod Blagojevich's demand that all seniors in Illinois get free rides on public trains and buses. It now becomes law without going back to the governor's desk.

The governor thanked lawmakers a short time later for approving his amendatory veto implementing the free rides for seniors.

"I'm delighted that we were able to see the legislature approve my changes that are historic and meaningful," Blagojevich said. "At the end of the day, getting all senior citizens free public transportation, which is now the law in Illinois, is a very good thing. It's historic, it's meaningful and it's going to improve the quality of life for a lot of seniors in Illinois."

The Illinois House approved the bill by a vote of 61-47 at about 2 p.m. About two hours later, the Senate approved the bill by a vote of 32-19.

"We are very pleased with the result today," Regional Transportation Authority Executive Director Steven Schlickman said. "While it's taken us a long time, this was the right result."

The bill averts the CTA's "doomsday" plan for the elimination of 81 bus routes and a rise to as much as $3.25 for fares.

Thursday night, Mayor Richard M. Daley said, "the service cuts and fare hikes would have had a devastating effect on the hundreds of thousands of people who depend upon the CTA, Metra and Pace to live their daily lives."

"I want to thank all of them for their patience," Daley said, noting it took a year for Springfield to come up with a long-term funding solution for mass transit. "Reaching this agreement took a long time and quite a bit of hard work, but I always felt we were going to get the job done."

Illinois State Rep. Julie Hamos (D-Evanston), chair of the House Mass Transit Committee and chief sponsor of the bailout bill, said, "This is the day we've been waiting for, for a long time, and we have to pass it, because doomsday Sunday will be very real."

The debate on Thursday was bitter at times. Republicans and many Democrats were unhappy with the way the governor played this game.

Republican House Leader Tom Cross said, "I would be very cautious on the other side of the aisle. Those of you that run the state, you're running it into the ground."

But Hamos said, "As we stand here looking into the abyss of a very serious shutdown potentially on Sunday, we have a solution."

The governor's plan for free rides for seniors just might have derailed the bailout, sources said, were it not for the Sunday deadline and a reluctance to incur the wrath of voters just before the Feb. 5 primary elections.

The bailout would call for a regional sales tax increase of 0.25 percent in Cook County and 0.5 percent in the collar counties; it would also increase the real estate transfer tax in Chicago. But Gov. Rod Blagojevich said he would only approve the plan if all Illinois senior citizens, those over the age of 65, were allowed to ride public trains and buses for free.

Hamos was critical of the manner in which Blagojevich demanded the provision that seniors ride free,

"I wish he hadn't done it the way he had, that's part of the problem here," she said.

Lawmakers of both parties said the free-ride provision was a clumsy attempt by the governor to divert attention from the fact that he was agreeing to a general tax increase, something he had vowed never to do.
 
"I did not get one phone call in support of the governor's action," said Rep. Harry Osterman, D-Chicago. "I would assume most of the people in the state saw right through his action."

Rep. John Fritchey, D-Chicago, said he was drafting legislation to abolish amendatory vetoes.

"If the governor is unable to play with his toys, we will take his toys away from him," Fritchey said.

Fritchey and other legislators also suggested the measure might be challenged in court as an unconstitutional stretch of the governor's amendatory veto power.

Some legislators complained their seniors wouldn't benefit from the free rides because they only applied to transit services with fixed routes. They also criticized supporters for adding more expenses to an already cash-strapped transit system.

"Why in the world would you blow a hole in something you just fixed? It doesn't make any sense," said Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro.

Senate President Emil Jones, D-Chicago, was one of the few legislators to defend the governor's change to the bill.

"The only problem with this amendatory veto is that we did not think of it," Jones said.

The House followed the transit vote by approving legislation that would put an income limit on the free rides for seniors and offer the rides to people with disabilities. But the Senate shot down that measure, meaning all seniors over the age of 65 would qualify, regardless of income and free rides would not be extended to the disabled, although Blagojevich said he eventually would like to see that be the case.

Even though fare hikes and service will not take place on Sunday, one last hurdle remains for part of the bailout deal. The Chicago City Council must approve a provision that raises real estate transfer taxes in the city to help fund the bill.

Mayor Daley said he was ready to do the work to get that provision passed. "This is heavy lifting … there's no free lunch, there's no such thing as a free lunch. I don't care where you go, someone has to pay for it," Daley said.

Riders we talked to were glad, for the most part, to see action taken on the bill.

But some still say the CTA is headed down the wrong route.

For many seniors the issue is clear - they need a helping hand when it comes to riding the CTA.

But some, like a 75-year-old woman we spoke to downtown, told us they'd rather pay for better service instead of riding for free.

She rides 3 to 4 times a day. "They cancelled a lot of the buses I need. I'd rather have extra routes than have free bus rides," she said.

"What about the people who are disabled?" said another rider.

It's important to note that the free rides for seniors will not start immediately. Public transit officials have 60 days to get it up and running.

CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman, Mike Parker and Pamela Jones and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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