[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 7 (Wednesday, February 2, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 2, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                        PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS

  The following petitions and memorials were laid before the Senate and 
were referred or ordered to lie on the table as indicated:

       POM-361. A resolution adopted by the Chamber of Commerce of 
     Henderson, Nevada relative to the Nevada Test Site; to the 
     Committee on Armed Services.
       POM-362. A resolution adopted by the Nevada State A.F.L.-
     C.I.O. relative to the Nevada Test Site; to the Committee on 
     Armed Services.
       POM-363. A resolution adopted by the Council of Jefferson 
     Parish, Louisiana relative to the U.S. Army Corps of 
     Engineers; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
       POM-364. A resolution adopted by the House of the General 
     Assembly of the State of Illinois; to the Committee on 
     Environment and Public Works.

      State of Illinois, Eighty-Eighth General Assembly, House of 
                            Representatives


                      ``House Resolution No. 1787

       ``Whereas, Illinois is the largest producer of ethanol 
     blended fuels, providing demand for 100 million bushels of 
     corn per year; and
       ``Whereas, Thirty percent of the gasoline sold in Illinois 
     is a blend containing ten percent ethanol, and this makes 
     Illinois the largest single user of ethanol blends in the 
     country; and
       ``Whereas, The ethanol industry in Illinois employs more 
     than 5,000 people and uses seventeen percent of the corn 
     crop, resulting in $200 million in economic activity; and
       ``Whereas, Ethanol is made from a renewable resource and, 
     as such, is a valuable weapon in our country's battle for 
     energy independence; and
       ``Whereas, Industries that produce ethanol are delaying 
     plans for expanding their ethanol production capacity until 
     the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency final regulations; 
     and
       ``Whereas, Ethanol blended fuel has proven to reduce carbon 
     monoxide emissions by up to twenty-five percent; and
       ``Whereas, The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has 
     adopted strict new rules for reformulated gasoline standards 
     which are intended to reduce smog in key urban areas and 
     would effectively bar the use of ethanol blended gasoline; 
     and
       ``Whereas, The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 1990 
     Clean Air Act reformulated gasoline program is scheduled to 
     begin on January 1, 1995 in the following nine urban areas: 
     Chicago, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Houston, Milwaukee, New York 
     City, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Hartford, Connecticut; 
     and
       ``Whereas, President Clinton has proposed to the U.S. 
     Environmental Protection Agency that the Agency adopt rules 
     to allow up to thirty percent of the share of oxygen content 
     required in reformulated fuels year-round to come from 
     renewable products, including ethanol; and
       ``Whereas, The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 
     following President Clinton's lead, has proposed a new rule 
     for reformulated gasoline standards which allows up to 30 
     percent of new fuels to be made from renewable sources of 
     energy; and
       ``Whereas, The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will 
     conduct a hearing on the proposed rule on January 15, 1994 in 
     Washington, D.C.; therefore, be it
       ``Resolved, by the House of Representatives of the Eighty-
     Eighth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, that we 
     urge the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to adopt rules 
     allowing up to 30 percent of the share of oxygen content 
     required in reformulated fuels year-round to come from 
     renewable products, including ethanol; and be it further 
     fuels year-round to come from renewable products, including 
     ethanol; and be it further
       ``Resolved, That suitable copies of this preamble and 
     resolution be presented to the President of the United 
     States, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy, the 
     Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the 
     Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 
     and the Illinois Congressional Delegation.''
                                  ____

       POM-365. A resolution adopted by the House of the General 
     Assembly of the State of Illinois; to the Committee on 
     Governmental Affairs.

                      ``House Resolution No. 1660

       ``Whereas, unfunded federal mandates--in the form of 
     regulations and requirements in federal laws--have 
     proliferated over the past two decades and become a growing 
     burden for state and local governments; and
       ``Whereas, the cost of unfunded mandates to state and local 
     governments amounts to many billions of dollars per year, 
     with total costs to city and county governments alone 
     estimated at more than $87 billion nationwide between 1994 
     and 1998; and
       ``Whereas, although states and local communities have 
     almost no voice in the federal mandates process, they are 
     expected to pay much of the cost; and
       ``Whereas, the imposition of unfunded federal mandates is 
     the twentieth century version of taxation without 
     representation; and
       ``Whereas, unfunded federal mandates undercut the 
     principles of accountability and public trust in the 
     decision-making process which are vital to our democratic 
     system; and
       ``Whereas, the number of federal statutes imposing unfunded 
     federal mandates has increased alarmingly in recent years, 
     rising from only two statutes in the 1930s and none in the 
     1940s and 1950s, to twelve statutes in the 1960s, twenty-two 
     in the 1970s, and twenty-seven between 1981 and 1990; and
       ``Whereas, federal regulatory relief efforts in the 1990s, 
     although helpful, have failed to achieve major reductions in 
     existing requirements or to significantly restrict new 
     regulations and have often been counterbalanced by new 
     conditions on existing programs; and
       ``Whereas, the crushing burden of unfunded federal mandates 
     has forced states and localities to raise taxes and cut back 
     on other, vital programs and services; and
       ``Whereas, the Council of State Governments, International 
     City/County Management Association, National Association of 
     Counties, national Conference of State Legislatures, National 
     Governors' Association, National League of Cities and the 
     U.S. Conference of Mayors jointly, proclaimed a ``National 
     Unfunded Mandates Day'' on October 27, 1993, to call 
     attention to the problems posed by unfunded federal mandates, 
     THEREFORE BE IT
       ``Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Eighty-
     Eight General Assembly of the State of Illinois, that this 
     House requests the Congress of the United States to enact 
     legislation to require the Congressional Budget Office to 
     evaluate the immediate and cumulative costs of unfunded 
     federal mandates prior to Congressional committee action, and 
     be it further
       ``Resolved, that this House requests the President of the 
     United States to comply with a recommendation of the 
     recently-issued Report of the National Performance Review 
     that ``The President should issue a directive limiting the 
     use of unfunded mandates by the administration''; and be it 
     further
       ``Resolved, that this House requests all branches of the 
     federal government to recognize state and local governments 
     as full partners in the domestic decision-making process; and 
     be it further
       ``Resolved, that a suitable copy of this resolution be 
     delivered to the President and Vice-President of the United 
     States and all members of the Illinois Congressional 
     delegation.''

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