The Illinois General Assembly has returned to Springfield for the last few days of lame duck session. This comes before the inauguration of Governor Pritzker to his second term on January 9th and the new General Assembly is sworn in on January 11^th. IFCA believes that the only substantial pieces of legislation that the General Assembly will take initiative on (over the lame duck session) are potential bans on assault style rifles and keeping the six-month postponement of a gas tax increase in place.

 

One bill of interest would ban assault-style weapons, and if approved and signed into law, the bill would increase the age to own a FOID card from 18 to 21 and, set ten as the limit of rounds per magazine.

 

The pause in the gas tax was set to rise to 41.4 cents per gallon but Gov. JB Pritzker's signature on the state budget, however, paused that tax increase until the new year, and included a yearlong suspension of the 1% grocery tax.

The increase in the gas tax is scheduled each year for July and is tied to annual inflation calculated by the Department of Labor. The Consumer Price Index for 2022 was 8.2%, making for an increase of approximately 3.1 cents per gallon and 42.4 cents per gallon overall.

 

IFCA does not foresee any new legislation that will affect the fertilizer industry in the lame duck session. The remainder of January, we will continue watching for new legislation that will be heard in the spring session. We will keep our members informed of any new legislation that is introduced.