Memorial Day Weekend annually marks the start of summer – school letting out, frequent trips to the beach, vacations, and, unfortunately for drivers, a hike in gas prices.

With gas prices alredy reaching all-time highs, and with no reason to believe they won’t continue to climb, legislators in Illinois are working to decrease the costs at the pump.

State Senator Dan Rutherford (R-Pontiac) supported legislation that would remove the state’s portion of the tax on motor fuel.

“There are very few areas in which the state legislature can directly affect gasoline prices at the pump, but removing the state’s portion of the sales tax on gasoline is one way we can,” Rutherford said in a press release. “While this approach is not perfect, this may be the only way we can immediately provide the residents of Illinois relief at the gas pump.”

Currently, the state collects a five percent sales tax on motor fuel. Removing the tax would save motorists roughly 17 cents per gallon, as gas prices have risen above $3.50 per gallon in Illinois.

Meanwhile, in Washington, Illinois representative Timothy V. Johnson introduced legislation to provide money for new technology in fuel efficiency.

The grant would be used to help establish and operate an ethanol anti-idoling power unit research program. The program will develop further uses of ethanol as an energy source while optomizing the use of ethanol fuel power systems that can be retrofitted into both standard and hybrid engines.

“Vehicles that sit idle for extended periods of time, such as long-haul trucks and buses, use nearly 1.5 billion gallons of diesel fuel annually when just idling,” Johnson said in a press release. “They’re wasting gas and polluting the air unnecesarily. New ethanol anti-idling power units are a solution that needs to get to the marketplace and this bill helps do just that.”

If enacted, the bill authorizes a grant of $2.5 million for three years from 2009-2011.