Taking a smoking break could get more expensive.
Senate President John Cullerton on Tuesday proposed raising the state cigarette tax by $1 per pack to compensate for a loss of funding for the state's $31 billion construction program.
The Illinois Appellate Court ruled paying for the project with video poker and increased liquor taxes was unconstitutional.
The case is pending a decision from the Illinois Supreme Court.
Illinois currently taxes 98 cents for a pack of cigarettes. The House snuffed out an attempt in January to raise the tax by a $1.01 a pack.
Cullerton aides expect the legislation to surface in the next few days.
"The construction program is too important to risk delays," Cullerton spokesman John Patterson told the Chicago Sun-Times.