More than 200 trucks gathered at the Illinois Capitol building Nov. 18 to protest what organizers see as anti-trucking actions by the state Legislature and the governor.

The event was spurred by a 36 percent increase in registration fees in Illinois; the end of the rolling stock exemption on repair and replacement parts; and the failure of a bill that would have ended the split speed limit, organizers said.

Big rig drivers were joined by companies that operate other types of commercial vehicles and by economic development officials concerned about the potential loss of jobs if the companies move their operations out of state, The Alton Telegraph reported.

The protest organizers encouraged drivers and supporters to gather at 11 a.m. at the east end of the Capitol. The event was organized by the Midwest Truckers Association.

The fee increases were contained in SB841, a bill passed earlier this year by the General Assembly and signed by the Gov. Rod Blagojevich June 20. For those semis that run all of their miles in Illinois, the bill would increase the registration fee by $1,005. The increase is referred to by the state as the Commercial Distribution Fee.

That law also eliminated the sales tax exemption on the purchase of repair or replacement parts for many trucks. However, any truck that runs at least 51 percent of its trips out of state would not pay sales tax on those parts.

Some truckers thought the bill also would apply the state’s sales tax to the purchase of a truck, but any truck owner who pays the Commercial Distribution Fee does not pay any sales tax on a truck purchase.

Many truckers had also expressed anger over the governor’s veto, later upheld, of HB1186, a bill that would have ended the split speed limit in Illinois. The attempt to override the veto fell two votes short in the state’s House of Representatives.

Despite concerns raised by economic development officials and trucking industry players, Blagojevich discounted reports that the measures, especially the Commercial Distribution Fee, would cost the state jobs. He told The Associated Press the fee was a fair way to help solve the state’s budget woes.

"We have yet to hear of one company -- despite all of the big talk -- one company that has left Illinois because of that fee," he told The Associated Press.

However, a number of trucker firms have told Land Line and other media outlets that they are planning to leave the state over the higher fees. One Illinois company told The St. Louis Post-Dispatch it had already arranged to move to Missouri, while another is considering an address in the Lake of the Ozarks area, near the town of Camdenton, MO.