Full Text of SJR0051 96th General Assembly
SJ0051 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, Women Construction Owners and Executives (WCOE) | 3 |
| is a national organization with a chapter in Illinois; and
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| WHEREAS, WCOE promotes opportunities and business for | 5 |
| women-owned firms in the construction industry; and
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| WHEREAS, WCOE monitors and provides input on legislation | 7 |
| affecting women construction owners and executives; and
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| WHEREAS, WCOE is celebrating its 25th anniversary on March | 9 |
| 23, 2009 in Washington, D.C.; and
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| WHEREAS, WCOE has at the top of its national legislative | 11 |
| agenda improvements to the United States Department of | 12 |
| Transportation's Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) | 13 |
| program; and
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| WHEREAS, These changes will enable recipients of federal | 15 |
| stimulus moneys to be prepared with a strong pool of qualified | 16 |
| DBE firms to perform the work that is being funded; and
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| WHEREAS, The present DBE program imposes a $750,000 | 18 |
| personal net worth limitation on any qualifying owners seeking | 19 |
| DBE certification and this limit has never been increased; and
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| WHEREAS, The present DBE program in 49 C.F.R. § 26.65 | 2 |
| imposes the U.S. Small Business Administration's (SBA) size | 3 |
| standards on the gross revenues of any firm seeking DBE | 4 |
| certification, but also imposes an absolute limit, currently | 5 |
| $20.1 million, even if the SBA standard is higher; and
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| WHEREAS, Bonding capacity and ability to secure lines of | 7 |
| credit are directly tied to both a DBE owner's personal net | 8 |
| worth as well as the DBE firm's gross revenues; and | 9 |
| WHEREAS, These artificially low limits on personal net | 10 |
| worth and gross revenues are particularly challenging for DBE | 11 |
| firms in Illinois due to a higher cost of living and higher | 12 |
| construction costs; and
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| WHEREAS, The City of Chicago and Cook County have | 14 |
| established personal net worth limitations of $2 million for | 15 |
| their Minority and Women Business Enterprise (M/WBE) programs; | 16 |
| and
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| WHEREAS, The current SBA gross revenue size standard for | 18 |
| construction firms is $33.5 million; and
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| WHEREAS, Governmental agencies that provide DBE | 20 |
| construction opportunities must develop statistical and |
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| anecdotal evidence to show the extent of discrimination against | 2 |
| women and minorities in the construction industry; and | 3 |
| WHEREAS, The DBE program presently provides no guidelines | 4 |
| for the methodology that should be used for these disparity | 5 |
| studies; and
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| WHEREAS, The Transportation Research Board of the National | 7 |
| Academy of Sciences is in the process of developing a model | 8 |
| disparity study methodology; and | 9 |
| WHEREAS, Such a model disparity study methodology would | 10 |
| greatly benefit the DBE program; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL | 12 |
| ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES | 13 |
| CONCURRING HEREIN, that we urge President Obama, the Illinois | 14 |
| congressional delegation, and the Secretary of the United | 15 |
| States Department of Transportation to take immediate action to | 16 |
| increase the personal net worth limitation in the DBE program | 17 |
| to $2 million; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That we urge President Obama, the Illinois | 19 |
| congressional delegation, and the Secretary of the United | 20 |
| States Department of Transportation to take immediate action to | 21 |
| remove the cap on DBE gross receipts to reflect the applicable |
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| SBA size standards; and be it further | 2 |
| RESOLVED, That we urge President Obama, the Illinois | 3 |
| congressional delegation, and the Secretary of the United | 4 |
| States Department of Transportation to take immediate action to | 5 |
| adopt the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy | 6 |
| of Sciences' model disparity study methodology; and be it | 7 |
| further | 8 |
| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 9 |
| delivered to President Obama, the Illinois congressional | 10 |
| delegation, and the Secretary of the United States Department | 11 |
| of Transportation.
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