Full Text of HR0722 99th General Assembly
HR0722 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | 3 | | Representatives recognize that there are distressed counties | 4 | | and communities throughout Illinois that struggle with many | 5 | | economic and social problems including crime, unemployment, | 6 | | poverty, mortgage foreclosures, declining property values, | 7 | | deficiencies in public health services, and deficits in public | 8 | | education; and | 9 | | WHEREAS, In recent years these economic and social problems | 10 | | have become more prevalent and they have exacerbated existing | 11 | | conditions which include: inequalities in access to justice in | 12 | | the civil court system, an overburdened and ineffective | 13 | | criminal justice system, overcrowded correctional facilities, | 14 | | increased homelessness, inadequate educational opportunities, | 15 | | insufficient affordable housing, inadequate delivery of social | 16 | | services to the less fortunate, and deficiencies in the | 17 | | availability and quality of public health services; and | 18 | | WHEREAS, Some counties and communities disproportionately | 19 | | experience these serious social and economic ills; for example, | 20 | | Illinois counties which had 16% or more of their population in | 21 | | poverty in 2010 included: Alexander, Champaign, Coles, Cook, | 22 | | Franklin, Gallatin, Hardin, Jackson, Lawrence, McDonough, | 23 | | Macon, Marion, Massac, Perry, Pike, Pope, Pulaski, Saline, |
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| 1 | | Union, Vermilion, White, Williamson, and Winnebago; and | 2 | | municipalities with a population of over 100,000 which had | 3 | | family poverty rates of 10% or more are: Aurora, Chicago, | 4 | | Joliet, Naperville, Peoria, Rockford, and Springfield; and | 5 | | WHEREAS, It is important to take a comprehensive approach | 6 | | to the ongoing crisis of distressed counties and communities in | 7 | | Illinois and a significant poverty rate is among the best | 8 | | indicators that a community is in distress; and | 9 | | WHEREAS, Care must be taken when addressing poverty and its | 10 | | associated problems in counties with distressed communities | 11 | | because an emphasis on serving the largest number of people in | 12 | | poverty will miss other areas of the State with significant | 13 | | poverty problems and an emphasis on areas with the highest | 14 | | rates of poverty will ignore large populations in need, as | 15 | | shown by these facts: | 16 | | (1) Cook County has the highest number of persons | 17 | | living in poverty (which amounts to nearly 50% of the State's | 18 | | poverty population), but DuPage County (which has historically | 19 | | been considered to be a wealthy county with a small low-income | 20 | | population) has the second-highest number of persons in | 21 | | poverty; | 22 | | (2) the 10 poorest counties in Illinois, as measured by | 23 | | poverty rate, are generally downstate with small total | 24 | | populations and while their poverty rates are very high (the |
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| 1 | | highest county rate is 31.1%, with an average for all 10 of the | 2 | | poorest counties of 21.6%), these counties collectively | 3 | | account for less than 10% of the State's total poverty | 4 | | population; | 5 | | (3) the 10 counties with the highest numbers of persons | 6 | | in poverty are, for the most part, near urban centers with 5 in | 7 | | the Chicago metropolitan area and these 10 counties include | 8 | | over 70% of the State's poverty population; | 9 | | (4) a Statewide emphasis on the top 10 counties with | 10 | | high poverty rates will ignore the needs of 94% of the State's | 11 | | poverty population, but an emphasis on the 10 counties with the | 12 | | highest numbers of people in poverty will deemphasize the | 13 | | counties with the highest poverty rates; and | 14 | | WHEREAS, The U.S. Census Bureau on September 12, 2012, | 15 | | announced that, in 2011: | 16 | | (1) the median household income in the United States | 17 | | declined by 1.5% from the 2010 median, which was the second | 18 | | consecutive annual drop; | 19 | | (2) the weighted average poverty threshold for a family | 20 | | of four in 2011 was $23,021; | 21 | | (3) the nation's official poverty rate was 15.0 | 22 | | percent, with 46.2 million
people in poverty; | 23 | | (4) and
although the poverty rate and number of people | 24 | | remained statistically unchanged since 2010, this is the fourth | 25 | | year in a row with such significant amounts of poverty in this |
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| 1 | | country; and | 2 | | WHEREAS, The poverty rate in Illinois was 14.2% in 2011 and | 3 | | this amounts to a 42% increase in the poverty rate in Illinois | 4 | | from 2007 to 2011; and | 5 | | WHEREAS, Living in an area with a high poverty rate may | 6 | | include threats to life itself; for example, a recent | 7 | | comparison of 2 sets of Chicago neighborhoods, the 5 poorest | 8 | | and the 5 least poor, showed that: | 9 | | (1) the poorest neighborhoods had a homicide rate that | 10 | | is 11 times the homicide rate in the least poor neighborhoods; | 11 | | (2) the mortality rate for the leading causes of death | 12 | | in Chicago (cancer, heart disease, diabetes-related illnesses, | 13 | | stroke, and unintentional injury) is 5 times higher in the 5 | 14 | | poorest neighborhoods than it is in the 5 least poor | 15 | | neighborhoods; | 16 | | (3) the infant mortality rate is 2 1/2 times higher in | 17 | | the poorest neighborhoods than in the 5 least poor | 18 | | neighborhoods; and | 19 | | (4) that the Years of Potential Life Lost (YPLL) due to | 20 | | homicide in the 5
poorest neighborhoods was 2,172 for every | 21 | | 100,000 residents (assuming a
life expectancy of 75 years) | 22 | | compared to the YPLL homicide rate of only 186 in
the 5 least | 23 | | poor neighborhoods (the concept of Years of Potential Life Lost | 24 | | is an
estimate of the average years a person would have lived |
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| 1 | | if he or she had not died
prematurely); and | 2 | | WHEREAS, So long as these social and economic problems are | 3 | | not successfully addressed in distressed counties and | 4 | | communities, the cost to tax payers in Illinois for the many | 5 | | programs operated or funded by the State will only increase; | 6 | | and | 7 | | WHEREAS, State government resources are expended in | 8 | | ever-increasing amounts to address these social and economic | 9 | | problems and those expenditures are a significant drain on the | 10 | | State's road to financial stability; and | 11 | | WHEREAS, There exist numerous ways for State government | 12 | | programs to be operated more efficiently and more economically; | 13 | | and | 14 | | WHEREAS, State government, taxpayers, and those living in | 15 | | distressed counties and communities with a significant poverty | 16 | | problem could benefit from the creation of a State action plan | 17 | | that identifies: modifications that should be made to existing | 18 | | State programs so as to dramatically improve the delivery of | 19 | | services, reduce the cost of those services, and eliminate | 20 | | wasteful spending; how leadership programs and new educational | 21 | | opportunities could foster and equip new leaders; and ways in | 22 | | which State government could actively create a change |
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| 1 | | environment that will have numerous positive impacts; and
| 2 | | WHEREAS, If more effective, efficient, and economical ways | 3 | | to deliver social, law enforcement, correctional, educational, | 4 | | and medical programs can be developed, then significant strides | 5 | | can be made in the overall welfare of the distressed counties | 6 | | and communities and those solutions could be replicated, with | 7 | | adjustments as appropriate, to all communities in Illinois; | 8 | | therefore, be it
| 9 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 10 | | NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 11 | | urge the Governor to create a Distressed Counties and | 12 | | Communities Commission composed of stake holders in distressed | 13 | | counties and communities, representatives of appropriate State | 14 | | agencies, and community leaders to explore, discuss, and | 15 | | coordinate efforts to prepare an action plan to offer enhanced | 16 | | State governmental services in a meaningful way, to foster | 17 | | leadership, and to create programs that can succeed in | 18 | | addressing the myriad social and economic problems that exist; | 19 | | this, in turn, can benefit all Illinois communities; and be it | 20 | | further;
| 21 | | RESOLVED, That we urge that the Governor designate an | 22 | | executive department to provide administrative support for the | 23 | | Commission and appoint members of the Distressed Counties and |
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| 1 | | Communities Commission by December 31, 2015, so as to allow the | 2 | | Distressed Counties and Communities Commission to hold its | 3 | | first meeting in January 2016, and be it further
| 4 | | RESOLVED, That the Distressed Counties and Communities | 5 | | Commission be charged with: finding and creating innovative | 6 | | means to address and meet the numerous needs of those who | 7 | | receive State social services; designing plans to assist and | 8 | | enhance the efforts of State agencies and local governments | 9 | | that provide law enforcement and social services; analyzing | 10 | | successful state and local governmental programs in other | 11 | | locales in the subject areas of law enforcement, court | 12 | | administration, corrections, job skill retraining, education, | 13 | | economic opportunity, job creation, social services, and | 14 | | public health; and developing an action plan that includes | 15 | | information about changes and improvements to existing | 16 | | programs, statutes, and regulations that can be made by | 17 | | reallocating existing resources and not increasing State | 18 | | taxes; and be it further;
| 19 | | RESOLVED, That we urge the Governor to call upon the | 20 | | Distressed Counties and Communities Commission to hold public | 21 | | hearings and issue a written report of its findings and | 22 | | recommendations to the Governor and to the General Assembly on | 23 | | or before April 15, 2016; and be it further
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| 1 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 2 | | delivered to the Governor.
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