The State Senate has already passed it. Gov. Pat Quinn supports it. But House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago) tells the Daily Herald she is still "a handful of votes short" when it comes to passing a bill (SB 44) to increase the state cigarette tax by one dollar.

Have House members looked at the polling on this issue? In a survey taken last month by the Illinois Coalition Against Tobacco, 74 percent of Illinoisans favored the plan, which would generate approximately $300 million annually. In fact, boosting the cigarette tax was the only revenue-generating proposal that garnered majority support.