Full Text of HR0042 100th General Assembly
HR0042 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | 3 | | Representatives recognize that over the last 150 years, | 4 | | beginning with the Emancipation Proclamation, African | 5 | | Americans have made strides and advancements toward equality; | 6 | | the Civil Rights Movement enabled groundbreaking legislation | 7 | | such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965; today, we pay annual | 8 | | tribute to one of the pioneers and most prominent stars of the | 9 | | Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; however, | 10 | | there is still much work to be done particularly as it relates | 11 | | to the economic disparity in too many African American | 12 | | communities; and | 13 | | WHEREAS, We recognize that communities throughout Illinois | 14 | | are struggling under
the weight of many economic and social | 15 | | problems including
unemployment, poverty, mortgage | 16 | | foreclosures, deficiencies in public
health services, and | 17 | | crime; and | 18 | | WHEREAS, These economic and societal challenges created or
| 19 | | exacerbated conditions which include inequalities in access to | 20 | | justice
in the civil court system, an overburdened and | 21 | | ineffective criminal
justice system, overcrowding conditions | 22 | | in correctional facilities,
increased homelessness, increases | 23 | | in teen pregnancy, inadequate
educational opportunities, a |
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| 1 | | lack of affordable housing, insufficient
delivery of social | 2 | | services to the less fortunate, and deficiencies in
the | 3 | | delivery of public health services; and | 4 | | WHEREAS, Although unemployment is a lingering problem for | 5 | | the
economy as a whole, a recent study revealed that the recent
| 6 | | unemployment rate for blacks in Illinois was 17.5%, compared to | 7 | | 8.2%
for whites, and 9.8% for all workers; and | 8 | | WHEREAS, In 2016, there were 762 murders in the City of | 9 | | Chicago - the deadliest year in nearly two decades and an | 10 | | increase of over 50% from the previous year; five police | 11 | | districts on the south and west sides of the city accounted for | 12 | | nearly two-thirds of the increase in murders; 75% of those | 13 | | murdered in Chicago are black; and | 14 | | WHEREAS, The teen birth rate in the United States was | 15 | | recently
38.1 births for every 1,000 teens, but in a comparable | 16 | | time period in Illinois
the teen birth rate was 77.9 births for | 17 | | every 1,000 teens for black teens,
while the white teen birth | 18 | | rate was 20.6 per every 1,000 teens; and | 19 | | WHEREAS, The inmate population in the Illinois | 20 | | Correctional system is approximately 58% black, and the high | 21 | | proportion of young black
males with criminal convictions is a | 22 | | well-recognized phenomenon; and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Black leaders in Illinois are not alone in | 2 | | recognizing
that these broad social problems often strike the | 3 | | hardest in the black
community; and | 4 | | WHEREAS, It is painful for the black leaders to ponder the
| 5 | | stories of human struggle, despair, and hurt that all too often
| 6 | | over shadow the stories of success and hope; 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, State government, taxpayers, members of the | 12 | | General
Assembly, and the black community could benefit from | 13 | | the creation of
an action plan that identifies: what | 14 | | modifications could be made to
existing State of Illinois | 15 | | programs, including those statutory and regulatory
changes to | 16 | | the current laws and regulations in Illinois that could
| 17 | | dramatically improve the delivery of services and also reduce | 18 | | wasteful
spending, how leadership programs and new educational | 19 | | opportunities
will foster and equip new leadership in the black | 20 | | community, and ways in
which State government may actively | 21 | | create a change environment that
will have positive impacts on | 22 | | the many social problems that exist in
Illinois, especially in |
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| 1 | | the black community; therefore, be it
| 2 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | 3 | | HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 4 | | urge the Governor to create a commission, composed of | 5 | | stakeholders in the communities where these problems continue | 6 | | to devastated families, representatives of appropriate State | 7 | | agencies, ministers, business leaders, and all community | 8 | | appropriate stake holders to explore, discuss, and coordinate | 9 | | efforts to prepare an action plan to offer enhanced State | 10 | | governmental services in a meaningful way, foster leadership in | 11 | | communities, and create programs that can foster success in | 12 | | addressing the myriad of social and economic problems in the | 13 | | affected communities; and be it further
| 14 | | RESOLVED, That we urge that the Governor appoint members of | 15 | | the
commission by August 1, 2017 so as to allow the commission | 16 | | to hold its first meeting soon after the appointments; and be | 17 | | it
further
| 18 | | RESOLVED, That the commission be charged with: finding
and | 19 | | creating innovative means to address and meet the numerous | 20 | | needs
of the black community, designing plans to assist and | 21 | | enhance the
efforts of State agencies and local governments | 22 | | that serve blacks in
communities throughout the State, | 23 | | analyzing other successful State
and local governmental |
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| 1 | | programs in law enforcement, job retraining,
education, | 2 | | economic opportunity, job creation, social services, and
| 3 | | public health, and developing an action plan that includes | 4 | | information
about changes and improvements to existing | 5 | | programs that can be made
without allocating additional tax | 6 | | dollars to the programs by
reallocating existing resources; and | 7 | | be it further
| 8 | | RESOLVED, That we urge the commission to hold public
| 9 | | hearings and issue a written report of its findings and
| 10 | | recommendations to the Governor and to the General Assembly on | 11 | | or
before December 30, 2018; and be it further
| 12 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 13 | | delivered
to Governor Bruce Rauner.
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