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1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, In the spring of 2011, the retail prices of motor | ||||||
3 | fuels in Illinois have touched or hit record levels; and
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4 | WHEREAS, On May 4, 2011, the average sales price of | ||||||
5 | gasoline-based motor fuel in Illinois was $4.31 per gallon; and
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6 | WHEREAS, These retail prices include the substantial | ||||||
7 | burden of motor fuel excise taxes, State sales taxes, local | ||||||
8 | sales taxes, and environmental remediation taxes, which have | ||||||
9 | been added to the underlying burden of worldwide crude oil | ||||||
10 | prices; and
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11 | WHEREAS, The current price of crude oil is in excess of | ||||||
12 | $110 per 42-gallon barrel, driven upward by political upheavals | ||||||
13 | in the Middle East and adjacent regions of the Eastern | ||||||
14 | Hemisphere; and
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15 | WHEREAS, The high price of motor fuels threatens prospects | ||||||
16 | for Illinois employment and economic recovery by diverting | ||||||
17 | consumer spending from discretionary purchases to motor fuel; | ||||||
18 | demand for motor fuel is highly price-inelastic, as once people | ||||||
19 | take up residence in a house, they are tied in to a pattern of | ||||||
20 | driving to and from the places where they work, shop, and visit | ||||||
21 | their relatives and friends, and cannot easily change their |
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1 | patterns; therefore, be it
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2 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
3 | NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
4 | we urge Governor Pat Quinn to take action immediately to | ||||||
5 | comprehensively lower the price of motor fuel in all geographic | ||||||
6 | regions of Illinois on a time frame adequate to prevent | ||||||
7 | Illinois falling into renewed recessionary conditions; and be | ||||||
8 | it further
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9 | RESOLVED, That we urge Governor Quinn and President Barack | ||||||
10 | Obama to take immediate steps to reverse their current policies | ||||||
11 | regarding the price of motor fuel and to cooperate on new | ||||||
12 | policies to increase motor fuel supplies in Illinois, reduce | ||||||
13 | pressure on Illinois motor fuel prices, and inform the Illinois | ||||||
14 | public of the steps being taken to reduce price pressure on | ||||||
15 | motor fuel; and be it further | ||||||
16 | RESOLVED, That, based upon the current political upheavals | ||||||
17 | in the Middle East, consequent disruptions to the world supply | ||||||
18 | of crude oil, and negative consequences of these disruptions to | ||||||
19 | the fragile U.S. economic recovery, we urge President Obama and | ||||||
20 | the United States Department of Energy to release part of the | ||||||
21 | U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve for summer 2011 refinery | ||||||
22 | throughput and consumer end-use; and be it further |
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1 | RESOLVED, That, based upon the current record or | ||||||
2 | near-record price of motor fuel in Illinois, we urge the | ||||||
3 | President of the United States and the Administrator of the | ||||||
4 | United States Environmental Protection Agency to suspend | ||||||
5 | implementation of all federal Clean Air Act non-attainment | ||||||
6 | rules that affect the chemical composition and market price of | ||||||
7 | motor fuel sold in the Chicago, Illinois and St. Louis, | ||||||
8 | Missouri metropolitan areas; and be it further | ||||||
9 | RESOLVED, That we commend our neighbor country, the nation | ||||||
10 | of Canada, for its aggressive work in expanding crude oil | ||||||
11 | production from one of the largest under-utilized sources of | ||||||
12 | fossil fuels in the world, the oil sands deposits of the | ||||||
13 | province of Alberta, which possess estimated reserves of 1.7 | ||||||
14 | trillion barrels of bitumen, from which crude oil can be | ||||||
15 | manufactured; and be it further | ||||||
16 | RESOLVED, That we call upon United States oil refiners to | ||||||
17 | continue their work to rebuild their refineries to refine | ||||||
18 | bitumen-based crude oil into consumer petroleum products and | ||||||
19 | commend the example provided by Canada to those United States | ||||||
20 | policymakers who have the power to decide upon policies that | ||||||
21 | govern the drilling, exploitation, and enjoyment of crude oil | ||||||
22 | resources here in the United States; and be it further | ||||||
23 | RESOLVED, That we direct the Illinois Commission on |
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1 | Government Forecasting and Accountability to conduct an | ||||||
2 | objective, non-political examination of our policy of charging | ||||||
3 | "ad valorem" Illinois sales taxes on motor fuel, thereby | ||||||
4 | raising these prices well above world spot market prices for | ||||||
5 | gasoline, and to report its findings to the Speaker of the | ||||||
6 | Illinois House of Representatives, the Illinois House | ||||||
7 | Republican Leader, the President of the Illinois Senate, and | ||||||
8 | the Illinois Senate Republican Leader, and for this study to be | ||||||
9 | concluded and the report transferred no later than September | ||||||
10 | 30, 2011; and be it further | ||||||
11 | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | ||||||
12 | presented to the President of the United States, the Secretary | ||||||
13 | of the United States Department of Energy, the Administrator of | ||||||
14 | the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the | ||||||
15 | Governor of Illinois, and the executive director of the | ||||||
16 | Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and | ||||||
17 | Accountability.
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