

hire) secure a permit, the requirement 

 that private operators make annual re- 

 ports and report changes in equipment. 

 It also opposed the provisions which 

 would authorize the Department to 

 fix minimum rates and give jurisdic- 

 tion over rates charged by truckers. 



The bills failed to pass in the House. 

 The Senate bills were then amended to 

 delete the provisions objected to by 

 the Association and after these amend- 

 ments were made, the opposition of 

 the Association was withdrawn. The 

 Senate bills, as amended, passed. 



Under the legislation all trucks, in- 

 cluding farm trucks, will, effective 

 March 1, 1940, be required to carry 

 public liability and property damage 

 insurance, be required to have an in- 

 spection of the safety appliances 

 (brakes, lights, rear-view mirrors, etc.) 

 twice each year and will be required 

 to carry the name and address or other 

 identifying insignia of the owner. Op- 

 erators of such trucks will be restricted 

 to 15 hours on duty and to 12 hours 

 continuous driving. In addition, trucks 

 0|>erating for hire will be required to 

 secure permits and certificates, to make 

 reports and be subject to certain other 

 regulation by the Department of Public 

 Works and Buildings which administers 

 the Act. 



The Association opposed a bill (S.B. 

 155, introduced by Senators Lohman 

 and Thompson) which would have 

 barred all trucks having a gross weight 

 when loaded of over 8,000 pounds, 

 with certain limited exceptions, from 

 the highways from Friday midnight to 

 Monday morning. Amendments were 

 made restricting the application of the 

 bill to the State highways and ex- 

 empting trucks hauling certain com- 

 modities and all trucks having a gross 

 weight of 16,000 pounds or under. 

 However, the bill as amended which 

 had passed the Senate was killed in the 

 House. . 



Farm-to-IUarket Roads 



A series of bills (S.B. 184 to 188) 

 introduced by Senators Ward and 

 Thomas, would have authorized the 

 State to sell $80,000,000 of State tax 

 anticipation notes, one-half of this 

 amount to be used for the construction 

 of farm-to-market roads downstate and 

 one-half to be used to pay two-fifths 

 of the cost of super-highways in Chi- 

 cago and Cook county. These notes 

 were to be drawn against the State's 

 portion of the gasoline tax anticipated 

 to July I, 1959. The bills further 

 authorized the State to sell additional 

 anticipation notes to be paid out of 

 the counties' and cities' portion of the 

 gasoline tax and the proceeds to be 

 turned over to each county and city 



whose gasoline tax was anticipated, for 

 the construction of superhighways. Or- 

 iginally the type of farm-to-market road 

 and standards of design were left en- 

 tirely to the Department of Public 

 Works and Buildings. The Association 

 opposed the bills as introduced. How- 

 ever, a study of available revenues 

 showed that after payment of all ex- 

 penses, the Division of Highways, on 

 the basis of present revenues, has ap- 

 proximately eleven million dollars per 

 year for construction or reconstruction 

 purposes. Not more than five million 

 dollars per year of this amount are 

 needed to match Federal funds, this 

 amount with the Federal funds being 

 available for construction or reconstruc- 

 tion and leaving approximately six 

 million dollars per year of State funds 

 for financing under the proposal. The 

 Association took the position that if 

 the bills were amended to reduce the 

 time for which State revenues might 

 be anticipated to ten years, to give 

 the State definite control over the ex- 

 penditure of its funds in Cook county, 

 to specify the standards of design for 

 the farm-tomarket roads in order to 

 insure the maximum mileage from the 

 funds available, and to provide a uni- 

 form method of allotment of farm-to- 

 market road funds among the down- 

 state counties, the Association would 

 support the bills. 



The Association has consistently 

 soueht state funds for farm-to-market 

 roads, in line with the promises made 

 to farmers when the State Bond Issues 

 for roads were adopted and the Gaso- 

 line tax enacted. The State has done 

 but little in constructing farm-to-market 

 roads. 



The amendments proposed by the 

 Association were adopted and the bills 

 as amended passed the Senate. How- 

 ever, considerable opposition developed 

 in the House and the bills were further 

 amended to eliminate any anticipation 

 of gasoline tax by the State and to 

 eliminate the farm-to-market road pro- 

 gram. The bills, as passed, merely 

 authorize the anticipation of gasoline 

 tax revenues by Chicago and Cook 

 county to be used for the construction 

 of superhighways. No restrictions 

 were nlaced upon the expenditure of 

 State funds in Cook county and it is 

 possible that the State may carry a 

 considerable portion of the cost of 

 superhighway construction out of its 

 current revenues. It may be that be- 

 cause of the failure to include such a 



restriction in this legislation a major 

 portion of the State revenues will be 

 used for superhighways in Chicago 

 and Cook county and but little State 

 money will be exjjended on downstate 

 roads. Past experience would definite- 

 ly indicate that very little can be ex- 

 pected from the State in the construc- 

 tion of farm-to-market roads. 



School Survey Committee 



The Association supported a bill 

 (H.B. 463) introduced by Representa- 

 tives Parker and L. H. O'Neill, which 

 would have authorized the appoint- 

 ment of a school survey committee in 

 each county consisting of three persons 

 from rural areas and two {persons from 

 urban areas. This committee would 

 have studied the problems in school 

 districts and made recommendations for 

 reorganization. The bill was in line 

 with a resolution adopted at the last 

 annual meeting of the Association. 

 However, the bill failed to pass in 

 the House. 



School Transportation 



The Association supported a bill 

 (H.B. 269 by Representatives L. H. 

 O'Neill and Howell) providing that 

 the State should reimburse school dis- 

 tricts for three-fourths of the cost of 

 transporting elementary or high school 

 pupils residing at least one and one- 

 half miles from school. The bill lim- 

 ited such reimbursement by the state 

 to three-fourths of the cost of such 

 transportation or $15.00 per pupil per 

 school year and appropriated $500,000 

 from State funds for this purpose. 

 This assistance will encourage districts 

 with but few pupils to transport these 

 pupils to other districts. The bill 

 passed. 



Sale of Serum and Virus 



Two bills directly affecting the sale 

 of serum and virus through the County 

 Farm Bureaus were introduced. One, 

 H.B. 752, would have restricted the 

 sale of serum and virus to drug stores. 

 This bill was defeated in the Com- 

 mittee on Efficiency and Economy. The 

 second bill (H.B. 1053) made it un- 

 lawful to sell or transfer hogs for 

 feeding or breeding purposes unless 

 such hogs had been vaccinated for hog 

 cholera by the owner or a licensed 

 veterinarian 21 days prior to the sale 

 or transfer. However, only a licensed 

 leter'tnarian cord J make the certificate 

 of vaccination. In most cases this would 

 have made it necessary to have the 

 (Continued on page 24) 



AUGUST, 1939 



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