McLean County Times

State Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Champaign) recently voted against a dyed fuel regulation bill.

Senate Bill 3090 allows sales of dyed diesel fuel for non-highway purposes to be tax free and that the sale must be made by the licensed distributor of the fuel or end user who is not a licensed distributor.

"I’m not going to vote on this because I don’t know what it’s going to do for the people that fuel every farm in my district," Rose said. "Until I know more because, frankly, I don’t know what the problem is that we’re trying to solve here. If they are delivering the fuel today and there hasn't been an issue then I don’t know what we’re solving."

"On the other hand, if they’re required to be licensed anyway, then what are we doing here," Rose said. "I need to know more before I vote for this. I would encourage anybody on both sides who represents downstate to take a second look at this before they vote yes."

The bill passed the Senate with 36 yes votes and 14 no votes.

The bill now goes to the House and was referred to the Rules Committee.

The bill is sponsored by Sen. Ram Villivalam (D-Chicago) in the Senate and Rep. Michael Zalewski (D-Riverside) in the House.

Dyed diesel fuel is typically used for heating oil, construction fuel, agricultural fuel, generator fuel, or other off-road purposes. It is an ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel with a red dye in it. The dyed diesel is used for off-road or untaxed purposes, according to Staroilco.net.

"Penalties for improper use of dyed fuel range from stiff financial penalties to significant jail time," officials with Q-Dog Fuels said. "Distributors cannot knowingly transport dyed fuel with the intent to supply on-road vehicles, and fuel retail locations that carry dyed diesel cannot knowingly sell the gas for use in an on-road vehicle. If you are a retail diesel customer, you cannot knowingly use dyed diesel in an on-road vehicle; if dye is found in an on-road vehicle, the penalties can be extremely high."