| |||||||
| |||||||
| |||||||
| 1 | AN ACT concerning business.
| ||||||
| 2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
| ||||||
| 3 | represented in the General Assembly:
| ||||||
| 4 | Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the | ||||||
| 5 | Transportation Benefits Program Act. | ||||||
| 6 | Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act:
| ||||||
| 7 | "Covered employee" means any person who performs an | ||||||
| 8 | average of at least 35 hours of work per week for compensation | ||||||
| 9 | on a full-time basis. | ||||||
| 10 | "Covered employer" means any individual, partnership, | ||||||
| 11 | association, corporation, limited liability company, | ||||||
| 12 | government, non-profit organization, or business trust that | ||||||
| 13 | directly or indirectly, or through an agent or any other | ||||||
| 14 | person, employs or exercises control over wages, hours, or | ||||||
| 15 | working conditions of an employee, and that: | ||||||
| 16 | (1) is located in: Cook County; Warren Township in | ||||||
| 17 | Lake County; Grant Township in Lake County; Frankfort | ||||||
| 18 | Township in Will County; Wheatland Township in Will | ||||||
| 19 | County; Addison Township; Bloomingdale Township; York | ||||||
| 20 | Township; Milton Township; Winfield Township; Downers | ||||||
| 21 | Grove Township; Lisle Township; Naperville Township; | ||||||
| 22 | Dundee Township; Elgin Township; St. Charles Township; | ||||||
| 23 | Geneva Township; Batavia Township; Aurora Township; Zion | ||||||
| |||||||
| |||||||
| 1 | Township; Benton Township; Waukegan Township; Avon | ||||||
| 2 | Township; Libertyville Township; Shields Township; Vernon | ||||||
| 3 | Township; West Deerfield Township; Deerfield Township; | ||||||
| 4 | McHenry Township; Nunda Township; Algonquin Township; | ||||||
| 5 | DuPage Township; Homer Township; Lockport Township; | ||||||
| 6 | Plainfield Township; New Lenox Township; Joliet Township; | ||||||
| 7 | or Troy Township; and | ||||||
| 8 | (2) employs 50 or more covered employees in a | ||||||
| 9 | geographic area specified in paragraph (1) at an address | ||||||
| 10 | that is located within one mile of regularly scheduled | ||||||
| 11 | transit service. | ||||||
| 12 | "Public transit" means any transportation system within | ||||||
| 13 | the authority and jurisdiction of the Regional Transportation | ||||||
| 14 | Authority.
| ||||||
| 15 | "Transit pass" means any pass, token, fare card, voucher, | ||||||
| 16 | or similar item entitling a person to transportation on public | ||||||
| 17 | transit.
| ||||||
| 18 | Section 10. Transportation benefits program. All covered | ||||||
| 19 | employers shall provide a pre-tax commuter benefit to covered | ||||||
| 20 | employees. The pre-tax commuter benefit shall allow employees | ||||||
| 21 | to use pre-tax dollars for the purchase of a transit pass or | ||||||
| 22 | qualified parking, via payroll deduction, such that the costs | ||||||
| 23 | for such purchases may be excluded from the employee's taxable | ||||||
| 24 | wages and compensation up to the maximum amount permitted by | ||||||
| 25 | federal tax law, consistent with 26 U.S.C. 132(f) and the | ||||||
| |||||||
| |||||||
| 1 | rules and regulations promulgated thereunder. A covered | ||||||
| 2 | employer may comply with this Section by participating in a | ||||||
| 3 | program offered by the Chicago Transit Authority or the | ||||||
| 4 | Regional Transportation Authority. | ||||||
| 5 | This benefit must be offered to all employees starting on | ||||||
| 6 | the employees' first full pay period after 120 days of | ||||||
| 7 | employment. All transit agencies shall market the existence of | ||||||
| 8 | this program and this Act to their riders in order to inform | ||||||
| 9 | affected employees and their employers. | ||||||
| 10 | Section 15. Regional Transit Authority database. The | ||||||
| 11 | Regional Transportation Authority shall make publicly | ||||||
| 12 | available a searchable database of addresses that are located | ||||||
| 13 | within one mile of regularly scheduled transit service. | ||||||
| 14 | Section 20. Application of Act. Nothing in this Act shall | ||||||
| 15 | be deemed to interfere with, impede, or in any way diminish the | ||||||
| 16 | right of employees to bargain collectively with their | ||||||
| 17 | employers through representatives of their own choosing in | ||||||
| 18 | order to establish wages or other conditions of work in excess | ||||||
| 19 | of the applicable minimum standards of the provisions of this | ||||||
| 20 | Act. Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to affect the validity | ||||||
| 21 | or change the terms of bona fide collective bargaining | ||||||
| 22 | agreements in force on the effective date of this Act. After | ||||||
| 23 | the effective date of this Act, requirements of this Act may be | ||||||
| 24 | waived in a bona fide collective bargaining agreement, but | ||||||
| |||||||
| |||||||
| 1 | only if the waiver is set forth explicitly in such agreement in | ||||||
| 2 | clear and unambiguous terms.
| ||||||
| 3 | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect January | ||||||
| 4 | 1, 2024.
| ||||||