The 2025 Illinois legislative session has concluded, not with solutions, but with a troubling legacy of inaction. While lawmakers passed a $55 billion state budget, many of our most pressing issues remain unresolved. From a looming public transit collapse to a deepening housing affordability crisis, Springfield's leadership has yet again failed to rise to the occasion.

This collective failure to confront the transit fiscal cliff, legalize Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), and enact multi-family housing reforms statewide is a profound dereliction of duty. These are not minor oversights; they are failures on cornerstone issues revealing a legislature seemingly incapable of tackling the state's most pressing challenges.

The most glaring failure was the inability to avert the public transit fiscal cliff. Despite warnings of a $770 million budget deficit in 2026, the Illinois House adjourned without voting on House Bill 3438. This bill, which passed the Senate, proposed funding and reforms for the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), Metra, and Pace. The House inaction reportedly stemmed from controversial tax hikes. The "reform versus revenue" debate led to paralysis, highlighting a breakdown in legislative negotiation and compromise.

Source: Amanda Marie

The consequences are dire. Transit agencies are now facing 40% service cuts, which could mean over 50 CTA rail lines closing or reducing service, 74 bus routes being cut, the elimination of early and late-night Metra trains, reduced weekday Metra service, and the elimination of weekend and evening service for Pace. This will result in approximately 3,000 transit workers losing their jobs and plummeting ridership threatening a "transit death spiral" where reduced revenue leads to further cuts in the future. Transit users who may feel the need to bail on the system and drive will find overly congested roads that render the urban fabric of our city dysfunctional. Are more cars on the road, more traffic, and more pollution IL politicians’ idea of an environmentally progressive state?

Critically, inaction means any transit funding deal effective before June 1, 2026, now needs a three-fifths supermajority, a higher hurdle than the simple majority previously required. This strategic blunder makes a future solution more precarious.

Governor JB Pritzker stated, "We need to address transit funding as fast as possible", and Senate President Don Harmon called the cliff an "opportunity". Yet, these words resulted in inaction.

The legislature also fumbled opportunities to address Illinois' housing affordability crisis. House Bill 1813, legalizing Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) statewide, passed the House Housing Committee and had a second reading. ADUs, which are small, secondary homes also known as “granny flats” or “coach houses”, are a means to increase density and affordability gradually. However, HB 1813 was re-referred to the House Rules Committee, effectively killing it.

Similarly, efforts to promote "missing middle" housing (duplexes, triplexes, townhouses) by right also failed. House Bill 1814, allowing more diverse housing types and easing density restrictions, was also referred to the House Rules Committee after passing the Housing Committee.

These promising expert suppported housing bills would cost nothing to implement and unlock billions through tax base growth. Instead they’re being relegated to the Rules Committee which is used by House leadership as a legislative graveyard, allowing popular measures to die quietly without a public vote and avoiding accountability. This lack of transparency on critical solutions is a disservice to Illinoisans facing soaring housing costs.

Source: Steven Vance

These are not isolated missteps, but rather symptoms of inaction under the leadership of Governor Pritzker, House Speaker Welch, and Senate President Harmon. The relentless inability to build consensus points to a damning leadership vacuum, one that Illinois cannot hope to have a sustainable future under.

Pritzker frequently touts Illinois as a haven against the oppression of a hostile federal government; yet, one must ask how friendly Illinois will continue to be to the citizens who will continue to face skyrocketing housing costs and property taxes or to commuters who may lose their ride to work. Anyone with presidential aspirations should keep the trains running in the third-largest city in the country.

Illinoisans deserve more than vague promises or procedural excuses. They deserve leadership that identifies problems, crafts solutions, builds consensus, and delivers results. The current leadership has demonstrated it cannot do that.

As voters prepare for the next election, the stark fumbles, failures, and lack of transparency from this session must serve as a call to action. It is time to demand accountability and elect new leaders with the competence to navigate Illinois' challenges and build a more prosperous future. The status quo is untenable; change is imperative.

A Record of Inaction: Key Legislative Failures in the 2025 Illinois Session