DuPage leaders say late-session transit bill nearly stripped county quarter-cent sales tax

DuPage County legislative committee members were told June 10 that a late, last-minute amendment to a Senate transit bill briefly included elimination of the county's quarter-cent Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) sales tax before lobbyists and county allies secured its removal.

The change, which Chip Humes identified as a "poison pill in there for us, which was the elimination of our quarter cent RTA sales tax," was removed from the measure before the Senate vote. Humes, the county's state lobbyist, said the county then worked with Collar County chairs, their staff and legislators to get the provision taken out.

Why it matters: committee members said the quarter-cent RTA sales tax is a meaningful revenue source for DuPage County. Chip Humes told the committee the proposal would have been "catastrophic" for the county and that preserving the tax was a principal focus of the county's lobbying work in Springfield.

County lobbyists described the revenue package tied to the transit legislation as having three main components that were discussed in negotiations: a delivery fee on deliveries, a 10% surcharge on ride-hail services and a real-estate transfer tax that would allow the new regional board to impose a transfer tax "of a dollar 50 per $500 of sales," as Mark Polis described it. Polis said those three sources were expected to raise roughly $1.3 billion for the new board in the proposal that surfaced late in the session.

Polis said some language in the late Senate text would have allowed the new board to impose a transfer tax on Cook and Collar counties and that local governments could have been the collectors of such a tax: "we would collect it, hold the money, so we would make interest on that money as we're holding it. And it would be given over to the Bridal board through an IGA," he said, describing the mechanics in the amendment.

Committee members asked whether the county had taken a formal position on each of the three revenue options. The committee's stated position, as presented at the meeting, is to oppose measures that would "come after our quarter cent sales tax" or "raid our motor fuel tax," and staff said they will analyze the potential fiscal impact of each revenue source before recommending a formal county position.

Discussion vs. action: there was no formal county vote recorded on any change to state law at the June 10 meeting. Lobbyists reported the Senate-passed version that included transit governance changes did not move in the House before adjournment; the county will continue monitoring the issue over the summer and into the October veto session when lawmakers may return to the subject.

Direct quotes from the meeting reflect the county's response: Chip Humes said, "we were able to get that RTA sales tax taken out of the bill," and later, "it was catastrophic" to the county if the tax had remained in the bill. Mark Polis added that the three proposed revenue sources were the primary funding concepts discussed in the late-session draft.

Next steps: committee members were told the House could either concur or not concur with any Senate amendments to a House-originated bill; if negotiations resume, Humes said the county will stay engaged. Committee members asked lobbyists to return in late September or ahead of the October session to brief the committee on developments.

Ending: county staff and lobbyists said they will produce more detailed fiscal analyses and keep the committee informed; no county-level policy change or vote was taken at the June 10 meeting.