Full Text of HR0234 100th General Assembly
HR0234 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, Access to employment, economic investment, | 3 | | economic mobility, and training opportunities
are unequal | 4 | | across Illinois, with minority, low-income, environmental | 5 | | justice, and rural communities
having less access to these | 6 | | opportunities; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, Clean energy technologies present new economic | 8 | | opportunities, and the Future Energy Jobs
Act creates the | 9 | | Illinois Solar for All program to train residents across | 10 | | Illinois, including persons with
criminal records and foster | 11 | | care alumni, for jobs in the clean energy economy; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, The Illinois State Commission on Criminal Justice | 13 | | and Sentencing Reform seeks to reduce the
State's current | 14 | | prison population by 25% by 2025; and | 15 | | WHEREAS, The Commission found that half of the persons with | 16 | | criminal records currently in Illinois prisons will
likely | 17 | | re-enter prison within three years of release; and | 18 | | WHEREAS, The Urban Justice Policy Center found in a study | 19 | | of Illinois that only 31% of those released from prison were | 20 | | employed within two months; and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, High levels of unemployment correlate directly | 2 | | with violence in Illinois communities and
recidivism; and | 3 | | WHEREAS, The families and spouses of persons with criminal | 4 | | records are negatively and economically impacted
and deserve | 5 | | good paying jobs; and | 6 | | WHEREAS, Wage gaps continue to exist based on gender and | 7 | | race, with Caucasian women earning 82 cents, African American | 8 | | women earning 65 cents, and Hispanic women earning 58 cents for | 9 | | every dollar earned by Caucasian men in hourly wages; and | 10 | | WHEREAS, Higher recidivism rates lead to higher | 11 | | incarceration rates and costs for Illinois taxpayers; and | 12 | | WHEREAS, Educational and vocational training for persons | 13 | | with criminal records is a gateway to break the cycle
of | 14 | | incarceration and is critical to reduce violence and recidivism | 15 | | rates; and | 16 | | WHEREAS, All people desire to live in safe neighborhoods, | 17 | | with access to public land, clean air, drinkable
water, good | 18 | | health, and to be empowered through work; and | 19 | | WHEREAS, Addressing environmental justice has been a | 20 | | national priority for over two decades, as first
outlined in |
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| 1 | | 1994 in Executive Order 12898 on Federal Actions to Address | 2 | | Environmental Justice in
Minority Populations and Low-Income | 3 | | Populations; and | 4 | | WHEREAS, President Obama reaffirmed the necessity of | 5 | | working for a healthy environment for all
communities in a | 6 | | Proclamation on the 20th Anniversary of the Executive Order; | 7 | | and | 8 | | WHEREAS, Illinois upholds the commitment to ensure that no | 9 | | community disproportionately bears the
burden of pollution or | 10 | | environmental degradation through the Illinois Environmental | 11 | | Protection
Agency Commission on Environmental Justice; and | 12 | | WHEREAS, Communities of color and | 13 | | economically-disadvantaged communities have historically | 14 | | shouldered the burdens of pollution and its toxic impacts on | 15 | | health, air, water, and land; and | 16 | | WHEREAS, The United States Department of Health and Human | 17 | | Services Office of Minority Health reports that
African | 18 | | American children are four times as likely as non-Hispanic | 19 | | Caucasian children to be admitted to the hospital for
an asthma | 20 | | attack and 10 times as likely to die from one; and | 21 | | WHEREAS, Growing the clean energy economy through the jobs |
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| 1 | | and investments set forth in the Future
Energy Jobs Act is | 2 | | vital to reducing asthma-causing air pollution and carbon | 3 | | emissions that contribute to
climate change; and | 4 | | WHEREAS, Lack of investment in stormwater infrastructure | 5 | | causes basement flooding, sewer backups,
and water | 6 | | contamination that disproportionately affect | 7 | | economically-disadvantaged communities; and | 8 | | WHEREAS, Lack of access to fresh, local, healthy food | 9 | | causes poor health outcomes such as obesity,
diabetes, and | 10 | | heart disease throughout communities of color and | 11 | | economically-disadvantaged
communities; and | 12 | | WHEREAS, Communities of color face barriers of access to | 13 | | green open space and the health and
recreational benefits | 14 | | provided therein; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, Economically-challenged communities across | 16 | | Illinois - urban, semi-urban, and rural -
together face | 17 | | environmental injustices; and
| 18 | | WHEREAS, Illinois has the ability to equip our labor force | 19 | | with skills for the future, protect public health,
and be | 20 | | faithful stewards of the planet and our many resources; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Existing funds from the Renewable Energy | 2 | | Resources Fund allow the implementation of the
Solar-for-All | 3 | | Program to meet its statutory goals, creating 2,000 jobs for | 4 | | persons with records and foster
care alumni in the clean energy | 5 | | economy by 2030 by offering incentives to companies to hire | 6 | | trainees; therefore, be it
| 7 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | 8 | | HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 9 | | work together to create an environmental justice agenda that | 10 | | creates
clean energy jobs that are accessible to all, addresses | 11 | | gender inequities and income disparities as we
move toward a | 12 | | green economy, reduces recidivism rates while curbing climate | 13 | | change, and shapes
policy that addresses the adverse and | 14 | | disproportionate impacts of climate change upon communities of
| 15 | | color and economically-disadvantaged communities; and be it | 16 | | further
| 17 | | RESOLVED, That funds in the Renewable Energy Resource Fund, | 18 | | which were paid for by Illinois electric
customers, must be | 19 | | preserved and maintained for the Illinois Solar-for-All | 20 | | program as established by the
Future Energy Jobs Act, and | 21 | | protected from sweeps, interagency transfers, chargebacks, or | 22 | | other
reallocation of those funds away from their statutory | 23 | | purposes.
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