HR0724ham001 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0724HAM001 LRB096 15382 GRL 39826 a

AMENDMENT TO HOUSE RESOLUTION 724

AMENDMENT NO. ___. Amend House Resolution 724 by replacing everything after the heading with the following:

"WHEREAS, High-speed rail is a very effective tool for economic development that ties together cities and towns 600 miles apart into one economic unit; and

WHEREAS, High-speed rail is an environmentally-friendly means of moving people, reducing our dependence on foreign oil and reducing greenhouse gas emissions; and

WHEREAS, High-speed rail is an essential part of our national security agenda, both because of its reduction in foreign oil consumption and because it is an effective method of conducting mass evacuations from cities, especially if air travel were to become impaired; and

WHEREAS, Creating jobs through new infrastructure is key to the nation's economic recovery; and

WHEREAS, A 2,250-mile Midwestern passenger rail network as envisioned under the United States Department of Transportation's high-speed corridor designations could create more than 1 million permanent jobs and more than 450,000 constructions jobs in the region; and

WHEREAS, Outside of California, the Midwest has the highest concentration of cities with a population of more than 300,000; most of those cities, including Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Minneapolis, St. Louis, and Cincinnati, could be served and joined together economically into a stronger unit by a Midwest high-speed rail network; these metropolitan areas alone represent nearly 10% of the U.S. population and the Midwest region is home to one-third of the U.S. population; and

WHEREAS, In 2009, President Obama and the United States Congress demonstrated leadership and vision by including $8 billion in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for high-speed rail; and

WHEREAS, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 funds sparked a national resurgence in interest for high-speed rail, generating more than $103 billion in pre-application requests to the Federal Rail Administration; and

WHEREAS, In order to meet the demand for high-speed rail, the federal government must dramatically increase its financial commitment over the next few years; and

WHEREAS, The U.S. House of Representatives voted to spend $4 billion in FY2010 on high-speed rail; and

WHEREAS, The U.S. Senate only voted to spend $1.2 billion in FY2010 on high-speed rail; and

WHEREAS, Ultimately, Congress spent $2.5 billion on high-speed rail in FY2010; and

WHEREAS, The State of Illinois has appropriated funds for high-speed rail; the Illinois General Assembly has allocated more than $850 million for railroad infrastructure in the capital program, the single largest legislatively-enacted appropriation of any state in the history of the nation for railroad infrastructure; and

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge the United States Congress to spend $4 billion on high-speed rail in the FY2011 budget in order to match the historic commitment to high-speed rail demonstrated by the State of Illinois; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be presented to the members of the Illinois congressional delegation and President Barack Obama.".