Selected State Reports

• A Consumer's Guide to Proceedings before the Illinois Commerce Commission, Office of Consumer Services (May 1979), 55 pp.

The purpose of this pamphlet is to increase citizen participation in the utility rate charging procedures conducted by the commission. In addition to the practical steps suggested here, the Office of Consumer Services also provides financial and technical assistance to eligible consumer groups.

• The Housing Finance Revolution: Changing Patterns in Federal, State and Local Regulation, prepared by the Commission on Intergovernmental Cooperation, Research Memorandum No. 69 (December 30, 1981), 52 pp.

A wide variety of economic factors have had a serious effect on the long-established American goal of home ownership. Federal, state and local officials are now experimenting with new policies and programs that they hope will once again ensure that those who wish to do so may purchase homes.

• Illinois Plants for Habitat Restoration, Department of Conservation (January 1981), 61 pp.

The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 permits the establishment of wildlife habitat in post-mining reclamation planning. This booklet suggests some 150 different commercially available plant species native to this state that can be used in habitat reconstruction. Each species is described in terms of its form, use by wildlife, preferred habitat (including Illinois distribution map) and the form in which it is available; a list of companies where the species may be obtained is also included.

• Strippable Coal Resources of Illinois: Part 7 — Vermilion and Edgar Counties, by Russell J. Jacobson and Lawrence E. Bengal for Illinois Institute of Natural Resources (now Department of Energy and Natural Resources), Circular 521 (1981), 24 pp. plus wall map.

Strippable coal resources are defined as coal 18 inches or more thick and with overburden not exceeding 150 feet. It is estimated that about 757 million tons of such coal are available in the areas mapped here; another area of Strippable coal of unknown extent lies in western Edgar County.

• Bingo in Illinois: A Report to the General Assembly, prepared by the Illinois Legislative Investigating Committee (April 1982), 126 pp.

While the majority of bingo licensees are legitimate and run their games legally, a significant number do not conform to the requirements of the Bingo Act. Most of these are located in bingo palaces where some organized crime was also detected. Large palace operations should be curtailed and stricter licensing and enforcement procedures should be adhered to.

Items listed under State Documents have been received by the Documents Unit, Illinois State Library, Springfield, and are usually available from public libraries in the state through inter-library loan.

Anna J. Merritt

22 | August 1982 | Illinois Issues