While the sponsor of a measure to give local governments the ability to stack a 3 percent gas tax on top of the state and federal gas taxes says it’s not moving right away, lawmakers have until the end of May to pass the bill.
The bill would open up the ability for all municipal governments to tack on an extra 3 percent gas tax to the state and federal gas tax. Bill sponsor, Senator Bill Cunningham, says it could come up before the end of the session.
Josh Sharp with the Illinois Petroleum Marketers Association says Illinoisans were just hit with a doubling of the state’s gas tax and Cunningham’s measure would give local governments a “blank check.”
Lawmakers have left for the week. They’re off next week. Some observers don’t expect much to happen until after the March 17th primary.