Full Text of HJR0015 102nd General Assembly
HJ0015 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The COVID-19 pandemic has created a crisis more | 3 | | sudden and far more dramatic than any previously in history; | 4 | | and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, In a period of just a year, the COVID-19 pandemic | 6 | | has infected more than 25 million people and caused the death | 7 | | of more than 450,000 people in the United States; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, The COVID-19 pandemic has forced state and local | 9 | | governments to shut down businesses for weeks, even months, to | 10 | | protect everyone's health, with tens of millions of people | 11 | | losing their jobs within a period of weeks and millions more | 12 | | underemployed; and
| 13 | | WHEREAS, The COVID-19 pandemic continues to constitute an | 14 | | emergency that places essential workers at high risk for | 15 | | contracting the virus; public sector employees, such as first | 16 | | responders, public health staff, sanitation workers, and | 17 | | safety net enrollment staff, are among the many public | 18 | | employees saving lives, keeping communities safe, and ensuring | 19 | | that families have access to healthcare and food and roofs | 20 | | over their heads; and | 21 | | WHEREAS, State and local governments are facing staggering |
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| 1 | | budget shortfalls as economic contraction has reduced nearly | 2 | | all forms of government revenues, with the prospect of severe | 3 | | cuts to public services, painful layoffs, and austerity | 4 | | measures on the horizon that will disproportionately impact | 5 | | Black, Brown, and Indigenous workers and communities; and | 6 | | WHEREAS, State and local governments are unable to predict | 7 | | the true scale of declining revenues as costs rise sharply | 8 | | from business closings and rampant unemployment; and | 9 | | WHEREAS, The public health and economic crises caused by | 10 | | the pandemic demand a robust safety net and the expansion of | 11 | | public services; and | 12 | | WHEREAS, The imposition of austerity measures and service | 13 | | cuts will not only greatly increase the suffering of | 14 | | communities and families but it will also prolong our recovery | 15 | | and roll back advances we have made in creating more equitable | 16 | | communities for residents; and | 17 | | WHEREAS, The recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic will be | 18 | | uneven and disastrous without reprioritization of our local | 19 | | budget; and | 20 | | WHEREAS, State and local governments across the country | 21 | | pay an estimated $160 billion annually in interest payments on |
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| 1 | | public debt, hindering governments' ability to provide | 2 | | critical services and meet community needs; and | 3 | | WHEREAS, Illinois spent $1.7 billion on interest payments | 4 | | on debt during the last fiscal year; and | 5 | | WHEREAS, These high-interest payments that are intended to | 6 | | compensate creditors for the risk that borrowers will default | 7 | | on their debts have become a major drain on public budgets; and | 8 | | WHEREAS, The risk of state and local governments and | 9 | | government agencies defaulting on their debts is virtually | 10 | | nonexistent because debt payments take priority over almost | 11 | | all other government expenses, and history shows that | 12 | | municipal borrower default rates are less than 0.2 percent; | 13 | | and | 14 | | WHEREAS, Despite these extremely rare defaults, credit | 15 | | rating agencies give municipal borrowers lower credit ratings | 16 | | than corporations with riskier credit profiles, thereby | 17 | | forcing them to pay unreasonably high interest rates; and | 18 | | WHEREAS, Credit rating agencies give municipal borrowers | 19 | | with larger concentrations of people of color lower credit | 20 | | ratings; and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, The Wall Street banks that underwrite the | 2 | | municipal bonds have rigged the rules to maximize profits; and
| 3 | | WHEREAS, Wall Street banks have a long history of | 4 | | targeting municipal borrowers with fraudulent practices and | 5 | | predatory forms of debt, of repeatedly breaking federal and | 6 | | state antitrust and securities laws, and of defrauding | 7 | | municipal borrowers with misleading information to pad their | 8 | | own bottom line; and
| 9 | | WHEREAS, Many of the bondholders profiting off the | 10 | | interest from municipal bonds are the same wealthy investors | 11 | | who do not pay their fair share in taxes; therefore, be it
| 12 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | 13 | | HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE | 14 | | SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that the Governor's Office of | 15 | | Management and Budget is urged to enter into conversations | 16 | | with the financial institutions that serve as bond | 17 | | underwriters for the State and demand that they offer the | 18 | | State long-term loans with terms of up to 30 years to meet all | 19 | | of its borrowing needs without charging any interest or fees; | 20 | | and be it further
| 21 | | RESOLVED, That we urge the Federal Reserve Bank of the | 22 | | United States to offer long-term loans with terms of up to 30 |
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| 1 | | years to meet all of the borrowing needs of all state and local | 2 | | governments and government units in the United States without | 3 | | charging them any interest or fees.
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