House Speaker Robert DeLeo said Monday that a long-awaited transportation revenue bill will emerge in the House "sooner rather than later." Photo by Chris Lisinski | State House News Service.

The House’s long-awaited transportation revenue legislation will emerge “sooner rather than later,” Speaker Robert DeLeo said Monday.

After a meeting with legislative leaders and Gov. Charlie Baker for close to two hours, DeLeo reiterated his goal to complete work on a transportation financing bill – which his team has been discussing since last year – before the start of the House’s annual budget deliberations in April.

DeLeo said he wants to give representatives “about a week” between the legislation’s release and a floor vote so they have time to review what may be a multi-tiered proposal.

With that timeline, the bill does not appear to be on the agenda for Wednesday’s formal session, but DeLeo did not explicitly rule out releasing the legislation to representatives and the public by the end of the week.

“I can just tell you that we’re working on it,” DeLeo said when asked if the bill would be released this week. “I can’t emphatically say it’s going to be this week. The only thing I would say that I know I’ve been talking about is the need to do it, before the budget.”

Committee chairs, particularly Transportation Committee Co-chair Rep. William Straus and Revenue Committee Co-chair Rep. Mark Cusack, have working on the legislation and are getting “closer and closer,” DeLeo said.

“I would stay tuned,” he said. “I think it’s going to be sooner rather than later.”

Lawmakers were instructed to be prepared to take up items from the House’s lengthy session calendar on Wednesday, when the House will meet after Democrats hold a private caucus.