HR0095 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0095 LRB098 07359 GRL 41383 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives recognize that there are distressed counties and communities throughout Illinois that struggle with many economic and social problems, including crime, unemployment, poverty, mortgage foreclosures, declining property values, deficiencies in public health services, and deficits in public education; and

WHEREAS, In recent years, these economic and social problems have become more prevalent and have exacerbated existing conditions, which include inequalities in access to justice in the civil court system, an overburdened and ineffective criminal justice system, overcrowded correctional facilities, increased homelessness, inadequate educational opportunities, insufficient affordable housing, inadequate delivery of social services to the less fortunate, and deficiencies in the availability and quality of public health services; and

WHEREAS, Some counties and communities disproportionately experience these serious social and economic ills; for example, Illinois counties which had 16% or more of their population in poverty in 2010 include Alexander, Champaign, Coles, Cook, Franklin, Gallatin, Hardin, Jackson, Lawrence, McDonough, Macon, Marion, Massac, Perry, Pike, Pope, Pulaski, Saline, Union, Vermilion, White, Williamson, and Winnebago; municipalities with a population of over 100,000 which had family poverty rates of 10% or more are Aurora, Chicago, Joliet, Naperville, Peoria, Rockford, and Springfield; and

WHEREAS, It is important to take a comprehensive approach to the ongoing crisis of distressed counties and communities in Illinois; a significant poverty rate is among the best indicators that a community is in distress; and

WHEREAS, Care must be taken when addressing poverty and its associated problems in counties with distressed communities because an emphasis on serving the largest number of people in poverty will miss other areas of the State with significant poverty problems; and

WHEREAS, An emphasis on areas with the highest rates of poverty will ignore large populations in need; for example, Cook County has the highest number of persons living in poverty, totaling nearly 50% of the State's poverty population, but DuPage County, which has historically been considered to be a wealthy county with a small low-income population, has the second-highest number of persons in poverty; the 10 poorest counties in Illinois, as measured by poverty rate, are generally downstate, with small total populations, and while their poverty rates are very high (the highest county rate is 31.1%, with an average for all 10 of the poorest counties of 21.6%), these counties collectively account for less than 10% of the State's total poverty population; the 10 counties with the highest numbers of persons in poverty are, for the most part, near urban centers, with 5 in the Chicago metropolitan area; these 10 counties include over 70% of the State's poverty population; and

WHEREAS, A state-wide emphasis on the top 10 counties with high poverty rates will ignore the needs of 94% of the State's poverty population, but an emphasis on the 10 counties with the highest numbers of people in poverty will deemphasize the counties with the highest poverty rates; and

WHEREAS, On September 12, 2012, the U.S. Census Bureau announced that, in 2011, the median household income in the United States declined by 1.5% from the 2010 median, which was the second consecutive annual drop; the weighted average poverty threshold for a family of four in 2011 was $23,021; the nation's official poverty rate was 15%, with 46.2 million people in poverty; although the poverty rate and number of people remained statistically unchanged since 2010, this is the fourth year in a row with such significant amounts of poverty in the nation; and

WHEREAS, In 2011, the poverty rate in Illinois was 14.2%; this amounts to a 42% increase in the poverty rate in Illinois from 2007 to 2011; and

WHEREAS, Living in an area with a high poverty rate may include threats to life itself; for example, a recent comparison of the 5 poorest and the 5 least poor Chicago neighborhoods showed that the poorest neighborhoods had a homicide rate that is 11 times the homicide rate in the least poor neighborhoods; the mortality rate for the leading causes of death in Chicago (cancer, heart disease, diabetes-related illnesses, stroke, and unintentional injury) is 5 times higher in the 5 poorest neighborhoods than it is in the 5 least poor neighborhoods; the infant mortality rate is 2 1/2 times higher in the poorest neighborhoods than in the 5 least poor neighborhoods; the Years of Potential Life Lost (YPLL), an estimate of the average years a person would have lived if he or she had not died prematurely, showed that the YPLL due to homicide in the 5 poorest neighborhoods was 2,172 for every 100,000 residents (assuming a life expectancy of 75 years) compared to the YPLL homicide rate of only 186 in the 5 least poor neighborhoods; and

WHEREAS, So long as these social and economic problems are not successfully addressed in distressed counties and communities, the cost to taxpayers in the State of Illinois for the many programs operated or funded by the State will only increase; and

WHEREAS, State government resources are expended in ever-increasing amounts to address these social and economic problems; those expenditures are a significant drain on the State's road to financial stability; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that the Distressed Counties and Communities Task Force is created; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall consist of the following members: 4 members appointed by the Governor; 2 members appointed by the President of the Senate; 1 member appointed by the Minority Leader of the Senate; 2 members appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives; 1 member appointed by the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives; 1 member appointed by the Director of the Department of Human Services; 1 member appointed by the Illinois State Board of Education; 1 member appointed by the Department of Children and Family Services; 1 member appointed by the Illinois Housing Development Authority; and 1 member appointed by the Director of the Human Rights Commission; and be it further

RESOLVED, That this Task Force shall take testimony from stake holders in distressed counties and communities, representatives of appropriate State agencies, and community leaders to explore, discuss, and coordinate efforts to prepare an action plan to offer enhanced State governmental services in a meaningful way, to foster leadership, and to create programs that can succeed in addressing the myriad social and economic problems that exist in order to benefit all Illinois communities; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall hold hearings in distressed counties and communities to hear directly from stakeholders on their ideas for an innovative anti-poverty agenda; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall find and create innovative means to address and meet the numerous needs of those who receive State social services, design plans to assist and enhance the efforts of State agencies and local governments that provide law enforcement and social services, analyze successful State and local governmental programs in other locations in the subject areas of law enforcement, court administration, corrections, job skill retraining, education, economic opportunity, job creation, social services, and public health, and develop an action plan that includes information about changes and improvements to existing programs, statutes, and regulations that can be made by reallocating existing resources and not increasing State taxes; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall develop a legislative and administrative agenda that can serve as a national model for developing a successful anti-poverty agenda; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Office of the Governor shall provide administrative support for the Task Force; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall submit a report to the Illinois House of Representatives within 60 days of the completion of the hearings held by the Task Force.