State Senator Dave Koehler is donating his food and lodging reimbursement for today’s special session of the General Assembly to the Community Foundation Wholesome Food Fund, which helps low-income families purchase healthy food at the Peoria Farmers Market.

“I’m disappointed that the governor chose to put taxpayers on the hook for thousands of dollars of travel reimbursements for today’s session of the General Assembly when he could have easily gone with a lower-cost alternative,” said Koehler. 

State Senator Dave Koehler is announcing that members of the Illinois Senate will hold a hearing in Peoria to establish clear rules for how restaurants and bars can allow their customers to smoke in outdoor areas.

The issue came to Koehler’s attention when he learned a Peoria-area bar and grill was fined for violating the Smoke Free Illinois act, despite the fact that owners of the establishment worked with the Department of Public Health to make sure they were following the rules.

“We can’t have small businesses work with the state to make sure they are obeying the law, spend thousands of dollars, and then get fined anyway,” Koehler said. 

Here are the details of the Senate hearing:

Who: The Senate Labor Subcommittee on Employment Issues

When: August 15, 2012 at 11 AM

Where: American Red Cross, 311 John Gwynn Jr. Avenue, Peoria

The committee will discuss the issue and consider how to create uniform rules to regulate smoking in outdoor restaurant and bar areas, based on initial legislation drafted by Senator Koehler with the help of Peoria State’s Attorney Jerry Brady.

After being alerted to the opportunity by Senator Chris Lauzen, State Senator Dave Koehler introduced legislation to help convince Orascom Construction Industries to build a new fertilizer manufacturing plant in Peoria County, which will bring 165 to 200 permanent jobs and 1,000 construction jobs to the area over a two year period. 

Orascom is currently considering sites in both Illinois and Iowa.  To make Illinois more attractive to the company, Koehler is sponsoring legislation that makes Illinois’ incentive package on par with Iowa’s.

“This legislation is sending Orascom, an agricultural fertilizer company, a clear sign that we want them to come to Peoria County,” Koehler said.  “Our state is open for business, and we want to work with companies like Orascom to create good manufacturing jobs here in Illinois.”

The proposed $1.6 billion plant will produce ammonia, urea, and other nitrogen fertilizers to sell to Midwestern farmers.  The presence of the Orascom facility will save Illinois farmers significant money on fertilizer due to lower transportation costs.

Koehler has been working with Peoria County officials, the governor’s office, and legislators from both chambers and both sides of the aisle to reach an agreement that will bring Orascom to Illinois.

“I’m immensely proud of the work everyone has done in a very short timeframe to compete for this economic development opportunity. This would be a historic private investment in Downstate Illinois," said Peoria County Board Chairman Thomas O’Neill III.

Legislation sponsored by Senator Dave Koehler that would prevent phone customers from “cramming” passed out of the House and Senate this week.  The bill, which is supported by the Attorney General’s office, would prevent “cramming,” a scam that has hit Illinois consumers and businesses with inflated phone charges. 

“The people of Illinois lose hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to these telephone bill scams,” said Sen. David Koehler, Senate bill sponsor. “Banning third-party billing is a simple, common-sense solution to a problem that affects thousands of Illinois families and businesses.”

“Cramming” occurs when a third party uses a phone number as a credit card, charging the customer with a fee or charge for a service that they neither asked for nor used, such as email service, identity theft, or other services or programs.  According to the US Senate Commerce Committee, “cramming” has generated $2 billion annually for these third-parties nationally through the use of more than 300 million individual charges. In Illinois, more than 300 lawsuits have been filed against “crammers,” representing more than 200,000 customers and businesses.