Rep. Cory Mason said the changes made in an amendment to regional transit authority provisions in the state budget were made after conferring with Federal Transit Administration officials about Joint Finance Committee's action.

The JFC's action included modifying Gov. Jim Doyle's recommendation to create an RTA to serve Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee. But the JFC split off the two smaller cities, creating a Milwaukee RTA.

But FTA officials told Mason and Rep. Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, that an authority would have to encompass Racine and Kenosha in addition to Milwaukee.

"It needs to be an umbrella for the region," Mason said.

That new transit authority would be called the Southeast RTA.

Additionally, the three cities needed to commit to improving their bus systems "because they're not going to run a train to communities where when you get off the train, there's no transit to plug into."

Mason said the amendment "creates avenues to fix the buses" in the three cities.

Under the amendment, the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail line would be funded by a $16 car rental tax, as approved by the JFC earlier. But the amendments adds another $2 to the tax, $1 for the city of Racine and $1 for the city of Kenosha, to improve their bus systems. But the cities can only get the money if they match it, Mason said.

The amendment also creates a Milwaukee Transit Authority, and gives the Milwaukee County Board the option to create a 0.65 cents tax to pay for it. Of that tax, 0.50 cents would go toward transit operations, and the remaining 0.15 cents would go toward offsetting police and fire costs in communities in Milwaukee County.

In order to take full advantage of federal dollars available for RTAs, applications have to be in by September, Mason said.

The RTA issue has caused consternation among some Senate Democrats, including Racine Sen. John Lehman. But Mason said he had"a very positive conversation" with Lehman about the changes the amendment makes.

"Getting this done is critically important for Racine and the region," Mason said, citing the 17 percent unemployment rate in his hometown. "If we're going to recover economically we have to plug into the region."

-- By Greg Bump