HR0007 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0007 LRB101 03959 MST 48967 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Access to employment, economic investment, economic mobility, and training opportunities are unequal across Illinois, with minority, low-income, environmental justice, and rural communities having less access to these opportunities; and

WHEREAS, Clean energy technologies present new economic opportunities, and the Future Energy Jobs Act creates the Illinois Solar for All program to train residents across Illinois, including persons with criminal records and foster care alumni, for jobs in the clean energy economy; and

WHEREAS, The Illinois State Commission on Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform seeks to reduce the State's current prison population by 25% by 2025; and

WHEREAS, The Commission found that half of the persons with criminal records currently in Illinois prisons will likely re-enter prison within three years of release; and

WHEREAS, The Urban Justice Policy Center found in a study of Illinois that only 31% of those released from prison were employed within two months; and

WHEREAS, High levels of unemployment correlate directly with violence in Illinois communities and recidivism; and

WHEREAS, The families and spouses of persons with criminal records are negatively and economically impacted and deserve good-paying jobs; and

WHEREAS, Wage gaps continue to exist based on gender and race, with Caucasian women earning 82 cents, African American women earning 65 cents, and Hispanic women earning 58 cents for every dollar earned by Caucasian men in hourly wages; and

WHEREAS, Higher recidivism rates lead to higher incarceration rates and costs for Illinois taxpayers; and

WHEREAS, Educational and vocational training for persons with criminal records is a gateway to break the cycle of incarceration and is critical to reduce violence and recidivism rates; and

WHEREAS, All people desire to live in safe neighborhoods, with access to public land, clean air, drinkable water, good health, and to be empowered through work; and

WHEREAS, Addressing environmental justice has been a national priority for over two decades, as first outlined in 1994 in Executive Order 12898 on Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations; and

WHEREAS, President Obama reaffirmed the necessity of working for a healthy environment for all communities in a Proclamation on the 20th Anniversary of the Executive Order; and

WHEREAS, Illinois upholds the commitment to ensure that no community disproportionately bears the burden of pollution or environmental degradation through the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Commission on Environmental Justice; and

WHEREAS, Communities of color and economically-disadvantaged communities have historically shouldered the burdens of pollution and its toxic impacts on health, air, water, and land; and

WHEREAS, The United States Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health reports that African American children are four times as likely as non-Hispanic Caucasian children to be admitted to the hospital for an asthma attack and 10 times as likely to die from one; and

WHEREAS, Growing the clean energy economy through the jobs and investments set forth in the Future Energy Jobs Act is vital to reducing asthma-causing air pollution and carbon emissions that contribute to climate change; and

WHEREAS, Lack of investment in stormwater infrastructure causes basement flooding, sewer backups, and water contamination that disproportionately affect economically-disadvantaged communities; and

WHEREAS, Lack of access to fresh, local, healthy food causes poor health outcomes such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease throughout communities of color and economically-disadvantaged communities; and

WHEREAS, Communities of color face barriers of access to green open space and the health and recreational benefits provided therein; and

WHEREAS, Economically-challenged communities across Illinois - urban, semi-urban, and rural - together face environmental injustices; and

WHEREAS, Illinois has the ability to equip our labor force with skills for the future, protect public health, and be faithful stewards of the planet and our many resources; and

WHEREAS, Existing funds from the Renewable Energy Resources Fund allow the implementation of the Solar-for-All Program to meet its statutory goals, creating 2,000 jobs for persons with records and foster care alumni in the clean energy economy by 2030 by offering incentives to companies to hire trainees; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we work together to create an environmental justice agenda that creates clean energy jobs that are accessible to all, addresses gender inequities and income disparities as we move toward a green economy, reduces recidivism rates while curbing climate change, and shapes policy that addresses the adverse and disproportionate impacts of climate change upon communities of color and economically-disadvantaged communities; and be it further

RESOLVED, That funds in the Renewable Energy Resource Fund, which were paid for by Illinois electric customers, must be preserved and maintained for the Illinois Solar-for-All program, as established by the Future Energy Jobs Act, and protected from sweeps, interagency transfers, chargebacks, or other reallocation of those funds away from their statutory purposes.