Full Text of HJR0043 98th General Assembly
HJ0043eng 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 43
| 2 | | WHEREAS, Over 2 million Illinois residents receive | 3 | | Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits; | 4 | | this number includes older adults, young children, people with | 5 | | disabilities, and working families; and | 6 | | WHEREAS, Over 60,000 food-insecure Illinois residents | 7 | | enroll or re-enroll in the SNAP program every month; and | 8 | | WHEREAS, The SNAP program is an important component of | 9 | | Illinois' economy that generates over $3 billion in annual | 10 | | spending; and | 11 | | WHEREAS, Prior to October of 2010, the overwhelming | 12 | | majority of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) | 13 | | benefits were distributed on the 1st of the month in Illinois; | 14 | | and | 15 | | WHEREAS, Due to the SNAP distribution schedule, customers | 16 | | were relegated to shopping in crowded stores with elevated | 17 | | security, stores were unable to offer a high level of customer | 18 | | service due to the size of the crowds, customers who shopped | 19 | | later in the month found empty store shelves and diminished | 20 | | access to fresh fruits and vegetables, and employees saw their | 21 | | hours cut; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, The narrow SNAP distribution schedule caused | 2 | | enormous operational issues for Illinois grocers and | 3 | | retailers, especially for those businesses that operated in | 4 | | areas with a high density of customers that purchased food with | 5 | | SNAP funds; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, The SNAP distribution schedule also created | 7 | | operational issues for food banks, which experienced an | 8 | | increase in families in need at the end of the month when SNAP | 9 | | benefits ran out; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, In October of 2010, after many meetings with | 11 | | representatives of the grocery industry and non-profit groups | 12 | | that have an interest in food access for low-income residents, | 13 | | the Illinois Department of Human Services instituted a change | 14 | | in how SNAP benefits were distributed to Illinois residents; | 15 | | and | 16 | | WHEREAS, In order to relieve the pressure off of businesses | 17 | | and customers at the 1st of the month, a large number of SNAP | 18 | | customers were shifted from the 1st of the month to the 4th, | 19 | | 7th, and 10th of the month over the period of one year with | 20 | | great success; and
| 21 | | WHEREAS, The Department of Human Services currently issues |
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| 1 | | SNAP benefits on the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 7th, 8th, 10th, 11th, 14th, | 2 | | 17th, 19th, 21st, and 23rd days of the month; and
| 3 | | WHEREAS, The Department of Human Services has decided to | 4 | | shrink the SNAP distribution dates to the first 10 days of the | 5 | | month; and | 6 | | WHEREAS, The United States Department of Agriculture | 7 | | (USDA), which controls the funding for the SNAP program, sent a | 8 | | letter to each state encouraging states to stagger SNAP | 9 | | distribution throughout the month; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, This change goes in the opposite direction of the | 11 | | advocacy position taken by the USDA and the movement of other | 12 | | states in recent years, changing their systems to stagger SNAP | 13 | | benefits throughout the month; and | 14 | | WHEREAS, Neither grocers nor poverty and food advocates | 15 | | believe that technology should dictate policy and that more | 16 | | efficient solutions should be achieved to avoid hunger; | 17 | | therefore, be it
| 18 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 19 | | NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE | 20 | | SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that the Task Force on Hunger and the | 21 | | Efficient Distribution of SNAP Benefits is created; and be it |
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| 1 | | further
| 2 | | RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall consist of the | 3 | | following 10 members, appointed as follows: | 4 | | (1) four legislators, appointed one each by the | 5 | | President of the Senate, the Minority Leader of the Senate, the | 6 | | Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Minority | 7 | | Leader of the House of Representatives; | 8 | | (2) the Secretary of the Illinois Department of Human | 9 | | Services or his or her designee; | 10 | | (3) one person appointed by the Governor to represent a | 11 | | state-wide association exclusively representing retailers; | 12 | | (4) one person appointed by the Governor to represent a | 13 | | state-wide association exclusively representing grocers; | 14 | | (5) one person appointed by the Governor to represent a | 15 | | non-profit organization focusing on advancing justice and | 16 | | opportunity for low-income Illinois residents; | 17 | | (6) one person appointed by the Governor to represent a | 18 | | non-profit organization focusing on ending poverty; and | 19 | | (7) one person appointed by the Governor to represent a | 20 | | food bank that serves a county with over 2 million residents; | 21 | | and be it further | 22 | | RESOLVED, That the co-chairs of the Task Force shall invite | 23 | | representatives of the USDA and software contractors to | 24 | | participate in the Task Force; and be it further |
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| 1 | | RESOLVED, That the designee of the Speaker of the House of | 2 | | Representatives and the designee of the Senate President shall | 3 | | serve as co-chairs of the Task Force; and be it further | 4 | | RESOLVED, That the members of the Task Force shall be | 5 | | appointed no later than 30 days after the effective date of | 6 | | this resolution; the members of the Task Force shall not | 7 | | receive compensation; and be it further | 8 | | RESOLVED, That the Department of Human Services shall | 9 | | provide administrative support to the Task Force; and be it | 10 | | further | 11 | | RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall prepare a report that | 12 | | details how SNAP benefits can be distributed more evenly | 13 | | throughout the month without increasing hunger in the State of | 14 | | Illinois and shall submit this report to the Governor and the | 15 | | General Assembly by October 1, 2013; and be it further | 16 | | RESOLVED, That the Task Force, upon issuing the report, is | 17 | | dissolved effective October 1, 2013.
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