Monday, December 29, 2025 — Illinois Safety & Legislative Director Bob Guy was on hand for another SMART-TD legislative victory as Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed the Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA) Act into law.
The NITA Act creates a new $1.5 billion transit authority to oversee CTA, Metra, and Pace. Labor will have a seat on the transition team tasked with replacing Chicago’s old transit administration with the new system.
Earlier this year, the Windy City faced a “doomsday” financial situation that threatened 40% service cuts to their transit system, which would have slashed weekday routes and crippled early morning and late evening service.
As extensively covered by SMART News throughout the year, these cuts would have devastated any of Chicago’s citizens who rely on transit to get around their city, not to mention our union brothers and sisters who provide those services. Guy and the SMART-TD legislative team spent the year organizing support for the new agency and the funding it represents. His hard work is now the law of the land.
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