The Illinois Senate on Monday sent to Gov. James Thompson a utility tax revision that could save a family of four an estimated $60 next year on their electric and natural gas bills.
The measure, approved 40-16 by the Senate, would change the way utility taxes are collected in the state.
Finishing a weekend of negotiations and parties, the General Assembly also moved a Democratic version of the governor`s ”Build Illinois” plan toward passage stage in the Senate and again defeated a measure to authorize dog racing.
The Senate also adopted, on a voice vote, an amendment that changes the state`s bail laws, including a provision to allow judges to jail dangerous offenders before trial. Prompted by a Tribune series on bond laws, the amendment, endorsed by Cook County State`s Atty. Richard Daley, will be given final consideration in the legislature this week.
The utility tax revision would replace the 5 percent state sales tax based on the price of energy with a tax based on the amount of energy used. Thus, consumers would not pay higher taxes when utility companies are granted rate increases by the Illinois Commerce Commission if the consumer continues to use the same amount of energy.
”Instead of the state being part and parcel to a utility rate increase, this would stop the increase from providing a windfall to the state,” said Sen. Patrick Welch (D., Peru), sponsor of the bill.
According to a recent study by the Illinois Public Action Council, Illinois residents pay the highest electric rates in the Midwest.
The Senate overwhelmingly approved the measure despite objections by some lawmakers that the state would lose an estimated $50 million a year in increased tax revenue, based on anticipated 1986 boosts in electric and natural gas rates. The state is expected to collect $665 million in utility taxes this year.
Using the same projections, proponents said a family of four would avoid $60 in tax increases prompted by rate hikes projected for 1986. The bill would go into effect Jan. 1 if signed by the governor.
Lawmakers said taxpayers who itemize their federal tax returns could lose a sales tax deduction because the utility tax would be changed from a sales tax to a user tax. Sponsors noted that the deduction is earmarked for abolition under the Reagan administration`s proposed revision of the federal tax code.
On another matter, legislation requiring large industries to provide information on their chemical emissions fell four votes short of passage in the Senate. Proponents said the Community Right-To-Know Act, which would require companies to reveal when their industrial emissions contain any of 82 toxic chemicals, could be revived before the end of the legislative session.
Also Monday:
— On a nearly partisan roll-call vote, the Senate adopted a Build Illinois plan that would require projects to be financed as they are built and eliminate Thompson`s plan to fund the state public works building through state revenue bonds.
”Everything is identical to the governor`s plan except that the state`s taxpayers will not incur a debt until the year 2025,” said Senate President Philip Rock (D., Oak Park), chief sponsor of the Democrats` plan, called
”Responsibly Build Illinois.”
Only Republican Sen. Bob Kustra of Glenview joined the Democrats in supporting the alternative, which Rock argued would save the taxpayers $2.5 billion and still build all the state projects the governor has proposed.
The Senate has stripped all the pork-barrel projects, which the House added to a total of $2.1 billion, from the measure and is to call the package for a vote Tuesday.
— Though it has never received more than 50 votes, a proposal to legalize dog racing in Illinois is not yet considered dead in this year`s session.
Shortly after the House again rejected the measure on a 46-65 vote, supporters of dog racing were meeting to determine their strategy for attaching it to legislation legalizing off-track betting in the state.
The state`s proceeds from the measure, sponsored by Rep. Larry Bullock
(D., Chicago), would be earmarked for education.
— The Senate sent to Thompson authorization for Chicago State and Northern Illinois Universities to create engineering schools. A $2 million appropriation for the schools is pending in the Senate.
— Legislation permitting the videotaping of testimony of children who are victims of sexual abuse was sent to Thompson`s desk by the Senate. Approved by a 54-1 vote, the measure would allow the child to be cross-examined by defense attorneys, but the judge could order that the questioning of the child be done by closed-circuit television.
