Legislative leaders were tinkering on Tuesday with Gov. George Ryan’s plan to temporarily suspend the state gasoline sales tax, proposing changes designed to line consumers’ pockets and curry favor with them this election year.
A day before lawmakers were to convene for a special session on the fuel crisis, House Republicans were pushing a proposal to impose daily fines of $10,000 on gas station owners who fail to pass the tax savings on to customers. They also want to post a toll-free telephone number at every gas pump for consumers to call if they think they are getting a raw deal.
And House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) said he would appoint a special investigative committee to look into the rise in gas prices, a panel that he said will subpoena oil company executives to explain themselves in a public forum.
Madigan also opened the door to all sorts of legislative wrangling in the days to come, outlining a special session agenda that leaves plenty of room for House members to fool around with the governor’s proposal–possibly even to include his idea of a sales tax holiday on back-to-school apparel.
The talks are expected to continue Wednesday as lawmakers make their way to the state capital for a late afternoon session. They are heeding a summons issued by the governor to consider suspending the state’s portion of the gas sales tax for six months, in time for the 4th of July holiday.
The emergency meeting is part of a backlash against gasoline prices. On Tuesday, a Chicago alderman renewed her callfor the city to provide temporary relief from its sales tax on gas, and a candidate for the Illinois Supreme Court filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court on behalf of consumers against major oil companies.
Nowhere has the outcry been louder than at the state level, where Ryan and some lawmakers are willing to forfeit $180 million in revenue this year to give consumers a break at the pump. Administration officials say they would pay for the cut with an unexpected surplus and a 2 percent across-the-board cut in agency operating budgets.
Some question whether consumers would ever see the benefit. But Ryan reiterated on Tuesday his belief that gas station owners would pass the cut along to consumers, saving them somewhere around a dime a gallon.
House Republican Leader Lee Daniels (R-Elmhurst) doesn’t want to leave that to chance. He is pressing for a penalty of $10,000 a day on those who don’t pass along the savings, staff members said.
Senate Republicans have suggested the less extreme alternative of appointing a special panel to investigate and publicize whether gas stations pass the tax savings along.
Even though Ryan aides say they don’t believe lawmakers can veer outside the parameters of the governor’s special call to only deal with the gas tax, Madigan made it clear Tuesday that he will proceed as if lawmakers have the right to do so.
“I don’t think that the legislature is bound by the governor’s exact language,” Madigan said. “I think it’s within the purview of the presiding officer to determine on a case-by-case basis whether an item is germane to the call or whether it is not germane to the call.”
In an afternoon press conference, Madigan coyly suggested that Ryan won’t be able to shove his tax reprieve plan through the legislature without some compromise. Ryan had planned for lawmakers to be out of town by Thursday night.
“That may pass, that may not pass,” Madigan said of the governor’s current plan. “It’s not so bad in Springfield on the 4th of July.”
As popular as Ryan believes his plan is with voters, other critics also were stepping to the fore. Fearing the cut in revenue might threaten state jobs, leaders of the largest union of state workers on Tuesday called for Ryan to trim back his plan and make it a two-month suspension of the tax.
Whatever its final incarnation, political observers agree the proposal will pass if it comes to a vote.
“If it gets to the floor, I can’t imagine there’s any legislator that would not support it,” said Patty Schuh, spokeswoman for Senate President James “Pate” Philip (R-Wood Dale).
But Ryan and others were hesitant to predict whether that would happen this week.
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Meanwhile, Chicago Ald. Arenda Troutman (20th) retooled aproposal to grant tax relief from high gas prices. Her new proposal calls for a city version of the sales tax holiday if revenue from city sales taxes on fuel exceeds 125 percent of budget projections.
But Ald. Edward Burke (14th) held the measure in committee, explaining that he wants to see what the General Assembly does before his committee considers Troutman’s proposal. Mayor Richard Daley is opposed to any such plan, probably dooming it to failure.
Also on Tuesday, attorney Larry Drury, a state Supreme Court candidate, sued to block more increases in gas prices. The suit alleges that prices have become “unfair and oppressive,” affecting the public’s ability to earn a livelihood, “support their families or to enjoy their leisure time as available.”
This past week, Midwest prices–the highest in the country–dropped 12.2 cents per gallon for the cleaner-burning reformulated gasoline sold in Chicago and Milwaukee, while conventional gassold elsewhere in the area fell 8 cents.
U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said Tuesday that he believes there is cause for hope that more relief is on the way.
“The good news is that gasoline prices are going down,” he said. “We hope it continues. We hope it’s a trend.”