Sen. Ram Villivalam

Like many Prairie State politicians and transit officials, workers, riders, and advocates, I was overjoyed after state public transportation legislation surprisingly passed in the wee hours of October 31, aka The Halloween Miracle.

New York City dominated the headlines today after electing Zohran Mamdani as mayor. But it wasn't the only big U.S. city that's made history in the past week.

On Halloween, a Crain's editorial did a fine job of summing up the stressful, but ultimately successful, legislative process that led to the Illinois General Assembly passing a robust transit reform/funding bill earlier that morning. "A long night yields long-overdue action on transit" is definitely the best op-ed I've seen on the topic in the mainstream press since last Friday.

It's getting down to the wire as Illinois legislators try to pass a transit reform and funding bill during their fall veto session, which wraps up next week from Tuesday through Thursday. If they don't approve such legislation soon, the result could be major service cuts and layoffs for the CTA, Metra, and Pace.

At the Truman College event, Sen. Mike Simmons and Sen Ram Villivalam disputed claims about the transit bill from Republican senators.

Read Streetsblog recent interview with Rep. Kam Buckner about efforts avert the transit fiscal cliff here.

"I can tell you, my love for you will still be strongAfter the boys of summer have gone"

"We're eager to hear constructive criticism [of HB 3438] and counter-proposals, and to-date we haven't heard many," Senate President Harmon said.