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State program helps owners find property I am working with
Illinois State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka to help citizens find
property and assets they might have forgotten or never knew existed.
Many area residents have some abandoned property that is in their
name and can be claimed. Most claims consist of assets exceeding
$100. Unclaimed property can range from bank accounts opened years
ago or jewelry in a forgotten safety deposit box to uncashed payroll
checks. When these assets have been abandoned or inactive for five
years, the person holding the property is required to try to locate
the owner.
If the owner can't be found, the assets are then turned over to
the state treasurer's office, which holds the assets until they are
claimed by the owner or heirs of the owner's estate.
Area residents who want to know if they have abandoned or
unclaimed property in their name should contact the Office of State
Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, Unclaimed Property Division, P.O. Box
19495, Springfield, IL 62794-9495.
All inquiries must be in writing and include the name, address
and county of the claimant. The state treasurer's office will
provide specific information about the asset being held and how to
claim the property.
Information is also available at
www.cashdash.net.
Senate Republicans want report on prisons
A Senate Republican legislator has sent the governor's office a
formal Freedom of Information Act request for a much-heralded report
on staffing levels at Illinois prisons. In addition, a copy of the
letter was sent to the attorney general's office.
The request involves a report that the Harvey M. Rose Accountancy
Corp., a California-based company, was supposed to release on
Dec.16, 2005. The study cost taxpayers $443,000, and the bill was
paid in full last January. According to the Illinois Department of
Corrections, the report had to be revised, but the revised report
has yet to surface.
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 The FOIA request was delivered Aug. 2, which means the governor's
office has until the end of business on Monday to respond.
The understaffing at prisons has led to an outbreak of violence.
Last March, an inmate at the Big Muddy Correctional Center picked up
another inmate and body-slammed him to the ground. The 64-year-old
victim did not die instantly, but the brutal blow to his head was
fatal. In February, an inmate assaulted a female food worker at the
Jacksonville Correctional Center. Then, just last May, an inmate at
Dixon Correctional Center took a prison worker hostage for 24 hours,
holding a homemade knife to her throat and sexually assaulting her.
These are just a few examples of the violence correctional officers
continue to face at Illinois prisons.
Tackling rising gas prices
A Senate Republican colleague of mine, Sen. Dave Syverson of
Rockford, on Thursday unveiled a three-pronged approach to tackling
rising gasoline prices, including requesting a special legislative
session to repeal the state sales tax on motor fuels, reinvesting
excess revenues into the alternative fuels market and railroad
transportation, and calling on Congress to crack down on
noncompliant oil companies and improve industry standards.
The most logical starting point for helping Illinois' consumers
begins with suspending the state's 5 percent sales tax on motor
fuels, noting that Illinois is higher than every bordering state. As
a result, those states often benefit from motorists who cross the
state border to fill up on cheaper gasoline. Illinois sales tax on
motor fuel sales is assessed on top of the other taxes on gasoline.
Suspending the sales tax on motor fuel is nothing new, as
lawmakers passed a temporary suspension of the tax in 2000.
[Column from
Sen. Bill Brady]
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