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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The Department of Innovation and Technology is a
3State agency that was created under an executive order by
4Governor Bruce Rauner; and
 
5    WHEREAS, The Department is extremely opaque and lacks
6significant transparency requirements to which other State
7agencies are subject; for example, $71 million was transferred
8by then Comptroller Leslie Munger out of the General Revenue
9Fund and deposited into various other funds used by the
10Department and the Department of Central Management Services;
11those funds already had healthy balances; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Illinois is engaged in a historic budget impasse
13that has caused serious damage to the State and its citizens
14including: an increase in the State's backlog of bills to over
15$12.7 billion; cuts to vital services for our most vulnerable
16residents including domestic violence victims, the
17developmentally disabled, and senior citizens; cuts to
18childcare that eliminated affordable daycare for 47,000
19children; a substantial reduction in funding for MAP grants for
20low income students; State university credit rating downgrades
21to junk status; and drastic cuts to life-saving breast and
22cervical cancer screenings; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Recent reports in the news media have brought to
2light the fact that the Secretary of the Department of
3Innovation and Technology, Hardik Bhatt, who is paid $145,000 a
4year, spent $208,000 on annual membership costs for
5professional subscriptions; therefore, be it
 
6    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
7HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
8Governor Rauner is urged to end the frivolous spending that is
9currently taking place at the Department of Innovation and
10Technology while the people of Illinois suffer; and be it
11further
 
12    RESOLVED, That we admonish Secretary Bhatt, and urge him to
13immediately cancel the subscriptions and seek to create a
14department that is more open and transparent going forward; and
15be it further
 
16    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
17delivered to Governor Rauner and Secretary Bhatt.