Senate week in review
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Aug. 7-11
[AUG. 16, 2006]
SPRINGFIELD -- Senate Republican
lawmakers have called on the governor to release a report on
staffing levels at Illinois prisons, proposed a special legislative
session to repeal the state sales tax on motor fuel, and urged the
governor to make his appointments to the Wooded Land Assessment Task
Force, according to state
Sen. Larry Bomke,
R-Springfield.
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A Senate Republican legislator sent the governor's office a formal
Freedom of Information Act request for a much-heralded report on
staffing levels at Illinois prisons. A copy of the letter was also
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.
The understaffing at prisons has led to an outbreak of violence.
Last March, an inmate of 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
multiple times. Bomke said these are just a few examples of the
violence correctional officers continue to face at Illinois prisons.
In other news, a Senate Republican legislator 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.
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![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2006/Aug/16/images/ads/current/maple_ridge_9-24-04.jpg) |
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2006/Aug/16/images/ads/current/generic%20tourism.gif) Bomke said 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' tax 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.
The 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.
Finally, Senate Republicans called on the governor to make his
appointments to a task force charged with finding a permanent
solution to the timberland assessment controversy, so that the
legislative panel can begin its work.
The Wooded Land Assessment Task Force was created by
House Joint Resolution 95, which also asked the Illinois
Department of Revenue to freeze timberland assessments for two years
at the 2005 level. The two-year freeze is to give the task force
members time to conduct hearings, make recommendations and allow the
General Assembly to pass any appropriate legislation based on the
findings. The report is due on Dec. 31.
But before the 12-member task force can even begin its work, the
panel needs to at least have a quorum. So far, the task force has
only six members: three legislators and the directors of the
Department of Natural Resources, Department of Revenue and the
Department of Agriculture. The governor has three appointments to
make, but he has yet to make them. Representatives of Southern
Illinois University, the University of Illinois and the House
Democrats comprise the other three members of the task force.
[News release from
Sen. Larry Bomke] |