HR0048 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0048 LRB098 07332 MST 37395 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives recognize that over the last 150 years, beginning with the Emancipation Proclamation, African Americans have made strides and advancements toward equality; the Civil Rights Movement enabled groundbreaking legislation such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965; today, we pay annual tribute to one of the pioneers and most prominent stars of the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; however, there is still much work to be done particularly as it relates to the economic disparity in too many African American communities; and

WHEREAS, We recognize that communities throughout Illinois are struggling under the weight of many economic and social problems including unemployment, poverty, mortgage foreclosures, deficiencies in public health services, and crime; and

WHEREAS, These economic and societal challenges created or exacerbated conditions which include inequalities in access to justice in the civil court system, an overburdened and ineffective criminal justice system, overcrowding conditions in correctional facilities, increased homelessness, increases in teen pregnancy, inadequate educational opportunities, a lack of affordable housing, insufficient delivery of social services to the less fortunate, and deficiencies in the delivery of public health services; and

WHEREAS, Although unemployment is a lingering problem for the economy as a whole, a recent study revealed that the recent unemployment rate for blacks in Illinois was 17.5%, compared to 8.2% for whites, and 9.8% for all workers; and

WHEREAS, 75.5% of homicide victims in the State of Illinois are black, and in the first 6 months of 2012, when there was a 38% increase in the homicide rate, 77.6% of homicide victims in the City of Chicago were black; and

WHEREAS, The teen birth rate in the United States was recently 38.1 births for every 1,000 teens, but in a comparable time period in Illinois the teen birth rate was 77.9 births for every 1,000 teens for black teens, while the white teen birth rate was 20.6 per every 1,000 teens; and

WHEREAS, The inmate population in the Illinois Correctional system is approximately 58% black, and the high proportion of young black males with criminal convictions is a well-recognized phenomenon; and

WHEREAS, Black leaders in Illinois are not alone in recognizing that these broad social problems often strike the hardest in the black community; and

WHEREAS, It is painful for the black leaders to ponder the stories of human struggle, despair, and hurt that all too often over shadow the stories of success and hope; and

WHEREAS, State government resources are expended in ever-increasing amounts to address these social and economic problems and those expenditures are a significant drain on the State's road to financial stability; and

WHEREAS, State government, taxpayers, members of the General Assembly, and the black community could benefit from the creation of an action plan that identifies: what modifications could be made to existing State of Illinois programs, including those statutory and regulatory changes to the current laws and regulations in Illinois that could dramatically improve the delivery of services and also reduce wasteful spending, how leadership programs and new educational opportunities will foster and equip new leadership in the black community, and ways in which State government may actively create a change environment that will have positive impacts on the many social problems that exist in Illinois, especially in the black community; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge the Governor to create a commission, composed of stakeholders in the communities where these problems continue to devastated families, representatives of appropriate State agencies, ministers, business leaders, and all community appropriate stake holders to explore, discuss, and coordinate efforts to prepare an action plan to offer enhanced State governmental services in a meaningful way, foster leadership in communities, and create programs that can foster success in addressing the myriad of social and economic problems in the affected communities; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge that the Governor appoint members of the commission by August 1, 2013 so as to allow the commission to hold its first meeting soon after the appointments; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the commission be charged with: finding and creating innovative means to address and meet the numerous needs of the black community, designing plans to assist and enhance the efforts of State agencies and local governments that serve blacks in communities throughout the State, analyzing other successful State and local governmental programs in law enforcement, job retraining, education, economic opportunity, job creation, social services, and public health, and developing an action plan that includes information about changes and improvements to existing programs that can be made without allocating additional tax dollars to the programs by reallocating existing resources; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge the commission to hold public hearings and issue a written report of its findings and recommendations to the Governor and to the General Assembly on or before December 30, 2013; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be delivered to Governor Pat Quinn.