Illinois Legislative News: September 2, 2025
Bill Signing Update
The 2025 regular session of the Illinois General Assembly adjourned on June 1 after passing a total of 436 bills. Many major initiatives including the Fiscal Year 2026 budget package and other measures with July 1 effective dates were signed into law earlier in the summer. Since then, the Gov. JB Pritzker has acted on all remaining legislation. Of the 436 bills passed, four were vetoed: two full vetoes, one amendatory veto, and one line-item veto.
Total Vetoes
HB 2682 (Jiménez/Edly-Alen): This bill would have streamlined Family Violence Option screening into the standard TANF application process and increased Crisis Assistance benefits. The bill was vetoed because its language duplicated provisions already enacted in the FY 2026 Budget Implementation Act.
SB 246 (Johnson/Mayfield): This measure would have allowed the State Treasurer to establish a nonprofit investment pool and electronic payment program for 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(5) organizations. Gov. Pritzker vetoed the bill, citing concerns that it could allow “Illinois’ financial investments to be used to benefit fringe and extremist groups.”
Amendatory Veto
HB 2568 (Katz Muhl/Harmon): The Equality for Every Family Act modernizes Illinois’ parentage laws. Gov. Pritzker issued an amendatory veto to correct technical formatting errors.
Line-Item Veto
SB 2510 (Sims/Welch): In the FY 2026 budget, the governor reduced approximately $161M in Build Illinois Bond Fund appropriations. These reductions addressed drafting errors that would have exceeded authorized bonding limits set in the Bond Authorization Act of 2025.
When legislators return for the fall veto session in October, they will consider how to act on these measures. The General Assembly may vote to override a full or line-item veto with a three fifths majority in both chambers. For amendatory vetoes, legislators can either accept the governor’s recommended changes with a simple majority vote, override them with three fifths vote to enact the original bill, or take no action, causing the bill to fail. A complete list of all bills passed, along with their Public Act numbers and veto messages, is available here.
RTA Transfers Funding to CTA to Delay Fiscal Cliff
On August 21, the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) voted to authorize a transfer of $74M in discretionary funding from Metra and Pace to the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) if state legislators fail to pass a transit funding solution during the October veto session. The RTA, consisting of the CTA, Metra, and Pace, is reportedly facing a $771M deficit in calendar year 2026. While this deficit is likely lower due to higher-than-expected RTA sales tax revenue, the calendar year 2026 deficit is still estimated to be around $546M.
The optimal and most likely scenario would be that legislators agree on a Chicago area transit funding and governance reform solution in October. However, since veto session is only two weeks and occurs in the middle of the state’s fiscal cycle, it is not a guarantee that they can get it done. Authorizing the discretionary $74M transfer to CTA provides a backup plan in case of emergency. Rather than a fiscal cliff occurring at the beginning of 2026, the deficit is now expected to hit in the middle of the year. The exact date is not clear and depends on a variety of factors that influence CTA’s revenue and spending. Each RTA service provider faces its own fiscal cliff date, with CTA’s occurring first, even after the transfer, then Metra towards the end of 2026, and finally Pace at the beginning of 2027.
With this change, the General Assembly could realistically wait until they return to Springfield in January without sending the RTA into funding chaos. If the funding can last through the end of May 2026, transit reform could even be considered along with other new revenue lines as a part of the state’s FY 2027 budget process.
Important Upcoming Dates – Statewide
October 14-16 – Veto Session Week 1
October 28-30 – Veto Session Week 2