Bill Text: IL HR0912 | 2011-2012 | 97th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Urges the Governor to take immediate action to comprehensively lower the price of motor fuel in all geographic regions of Illinois on a time frame adequate to prevent Illinois falling into renewed recessionary conditions. Urges the Governor and the President to take immediate steps to reverse their current policies regarding the price of motor fuel and cooperate on new policies to increase motor fuel supplies in Illinois. Directs the Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability to conduct an objective, non-political examination of our policy of charging "ad valorem" Illinois sales taxes on motor fuel.

Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Republican 14-1)

Status: (Failed) 2013-01-08 - Session Sine Die [HR0912 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2011-HR0912-Introduced.html

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HR0912 LRB097 20936 GRL 68041 r
HOUSE RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, In the spring of 2012, the retail prices of motor
fuels in Illinois have touched or hit record levels; and
WHEREAS, On March 26, 2012, the average sales price of
gasoline-based motor fuel in Illinois was $4.29 per gallon; and
WHEREAS, These retail prices include the substantial
burden of motor fuel excise taxes, State sales taxes, local
sales taxes, and environmental remediation taxes, which have
been added to the underlying burden of worldwide crude oil
prices; and
WHEREAS, The current global price of crude oil is in excess
of $120 per 42-gallon barrel, driven upward by political
upheavals in the Middle East and adjacent regions of the
Eastern Hemisphere; and
WHEREAS, The high price of motor fuels threatens prospects
for Illinois employment and economic recovery by diverting
consumer spending from discretionary purchases to motor fuel;
demand for motor fuel is highly price-inelastic, as once people
take up residence in a house, they are tied in to a pattern of
driving to and from the places where they work, shop, and visit
their relatives and friends, and cannot easily change their

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patterns; therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
we urge Governor Pat Quinn to take action immediately to
comprehensively lower the price of motor fuel in all geographic
regions of Illinois on a time frame adequate to prevent
Illinois falling into renewed recessionary conditions; and be
it further
RESOLVED, That we urge Governor Quinn and President Barack
Obama to take immediate steps to reverse their current policies
regarding the price of motor fuel and to cooperate on new
policies to increase motor fuel supplies in Illinois, reduce
pressure on Illinois motor fuel prices, and inform the Illinois
public of the steps being taken to reduce price pressure on
motor fuel; and be it further
RESOLVED, That, based upon the current political upheavals
in the Middle East, consequent disruptions to the world supply
of crude oil, and negative consequences of these disruptions to
the fragile U.S. economic recovery, we urge President Obama and
the United States Department of Energy to release part of the
U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve for summer 2012 refinery
throughput and consumer end-use; and be it further

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RESOLVED, That, based upon the current record or
near-record price of motor fuel in Illinois, we urge the
President of the United States and the Administrator of the
United States Environmental Protection Agency to suspend
implementation of all federal Clean Air Act non-attainment
rules that affect the chemical composition and market price of
motor fuel sold in the Chicago, Illinois and St. Louis,
Missouri metropolitan areas; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we commend our neighbor country, the nation
of Canada, for its aggressive work in expanding crude oil
production from one of the largest under-utilized sources of
fossil fuels in the world, the oil sands deposits of the
province of Alberta, which possess estimated reserves of 1.7
trillion barrels of bitumen, from which crude oil can be
manufactured; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we call upon United States oil refiners to
continue their work to rebuild their refineries to refine
bitumen-based crude oil into consumer petroleum products and
commend the example provided by Canada to those United States
policymakers who have the power to decide upon policies that
govern the drilling, exploitation, and enjoyment of crude oil
resources here in the United States; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we direct the Illinois Commission on

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Government Forecasting and Accountability to conduct an
objective, non-political examination of our policy of charging
"ad valorem" Illinois sales taxes on motor fuel, thereby
raising these prices well above world spot market prices for
gasoline, and to report its findings to the Speaker of the
Illinois House of Representatives, the Illinois House
Republican Leader, the President of the Illinois Senate, and
the Illinois Senate Republican Leader, and for this study to be
concluded and the report transferred no later than September
30, 2012; and be it further
RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
presented to the President of the United States, the Secretary
of the United States Department of Energy, the Administrator of
the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the
Governor of Illinois, and the executive director of the
Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and
Accountability.