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1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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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
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9 | WHEREAS, In recent years, these economic and social | ||||||
10 | problems have become more prevalent and have exacerbated | ||||||
11 | existing conditions, which include inequalities in access to | ||||||
12 | justice in the civil court system, an overburdened and | ||||||
13 | ineffective criminal justice system, overcrowded correctional | ||||||
14 | facilities, increased homelessness, inadequate educational | ||||||
15 | opportunities, insufficient affordable housing, inadequate | ||||||
16 | delivery of social services to the less fortunate, and | ||||||
17 | deficiencies in the availability and quality of public health | ||||||
18 | services; and
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19 | WHEREAS, Some counties and communities disproportionately | ||||||
20 | experience these serious social and economic ills; for example, | ||||||
21 | Illinois counties which had 16% or more of their population in | ||||||
22 | poverty in 2010 include Alexander, Champaign, Coles, Cook, | ||||||
23 | Franklin, Gallatin, Hardin, Jackson, Lawrence, McDonough, |
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1 | Macon, Marion, Massac, Perry, Pike,
Pope, Pulaski, Saline, | ||||||
2 | Union, Vermilion, White, Williamson, and Winnebago; | ||||||
3 | municipalities with a population of over 100,000 which had | ||||||
4 | family poverty rates of 10% or more are Aurora, Chicago, | ||||||
5 | Joliet, Naperville, Peoria, Rockford, and Springfield; and
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6 | WHEREAS, It is important to take a comprehensive approach | ||||||
7 | to the ongoing crisis of distressed counties and communities in | ||||||
8 | Illinois; a significant poverty rate is among the best | ||||||
9 | indicators that a community is in distress; and
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10 | WHEREAS, Care must be taken when addressing poverty and its | ||||||
11 | associated problems in counties with distressed communities | ||||||
12 | because an emphasis on serving the largest number of people in | ||||||
13 | poverty will miss other areas of the State with significant | ||||||
14 | poverty problems; and
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15 | WHEREAS, An emphasis on areas with the highest rates of | ||||||
16 | poverty will ignore large populations in need; for example, | ||||||
17 | Cook County has the highest number of persons living in | ||||||
18 | poverty, totaling nearly 50% of the State's poverty population, | ||||||
19 | but DuPage County, which has historically been considered to be | ||||||
20 | a wealthy county with a small low-income population, has the | ||||||
21 | second-highest number of persons in poverty; the 10 poorest | ||||||
22 | counties in Illinois, as measured by poverty rate, are | ||||||
23 | generally downstate, with small total populations, and while |
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1 | their poverty rates are very high (the highest county rate is | ||||||
2 | 31.1%, with an average for all 10 of the poorest counties of | ||||||
3 | 21.6%), these counties collectively account for less than 10% | ||||||
4 | of the State's total poverty population; the 10 counties with | ||||||
5 | the highest numbers of persons in poverty are, for the most | ||||||
6 | part, near urban centers, with 5 in the Chicago metropolitan | ||||||
7 | area; these 10 counties include over 70% of the State's poverty | ||||||
8 | population; and
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9 | WHEREAS, A state-wide 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, On September 12, 2012, the U.S. Census Bureau | ||||||
15 | announced that, in 2011, the median household income in the | ||||||
16 | United States declined by 1.5% from the 2010 median, which was | ||||||
17 | the second consecutive annual drop; the weighted average | ||||||
18 | poverty threshold for a family of four in 2011 was $23,021; the | ||||||
19 | nation's official poverty rate was 15%, with 46.2 million | ||||||
20 | people in poverty; although the poverty rate and number of | ||||||
21 | people remained statistically unchanged since 2010, this is the | ||||||
22 | fourth year in a row with such significant amounts of poverty | ||||||
23 | in the nation; and
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1 | WHEREAS, In 2011, the poverty rate in Illinois was 14.2%; | ||||||
2 | this amounts to a 42% increase in the poverty rate in Illinois | ||||||
3 | from 2007 to 2011; and | ||||||
4 | WHEREAS, Living in an area with a high poverty rate may | ||||||
5 | include threats to life itself; for example, a recent | ||||||
6 | comparison of the 5 poorest and the 5 least poor Chicago | ||||||
7 | neighborhoods showed that the poorest neighborhoods had a | ||||||
8 | homicide rate that is 11 times the homicide rate in the least | ||||||
9 | poor neighborhoods; the mortality rate for the leading causes | ||||||
10 | of death in Chicago (cancer, heart disease, diabetes-related | ||||||
11 | illnesses, stroke, and unintentional injury) is 5 times higher | ||||||
12 | in the 5 poorest neighborhoods than it is in the 5 least poor | ||||||
13 | neighborhoods; the infant mortality rate is 2 1/2 times higher | ||||||
14 | in the poorest neighborhoods than in the 5 least poor | ||||||
15 | neighborhoods; the Years of Potential Life Lost (YPLL), an | ||||||
16 | estimate of the average years a person would have lived if he | ||||||
17 | or she had not died prematurely, showed that the YPLL due to | ||||||
18 | homicide in the 5 poorest neighborhoods was 2,172 for every | ||||||
19 | 100,000 residents (assuming a life expectancy of 75 years) | ||||||
20 | compared to the YPLL homicide rate of only 186 in the 5 least | ||||||
21 | poor neighborhoods; and | ||||||
22 | WHEREAS, So long as these social and economic problems are | ||||||
23 | not successfully addressed in distressed counties and | ||||||
24 | communities, the cost to taxpayers in the State of Illinois for |
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1 | the many programs operated or funded by the State will only | ||||||
2 | increase; and | ||||||
3 | WHEREAS, State government resources are expended in | ||||||
4 | ever-increasing amounts to address these social and economic | ||||||
5 | problems; those expenditures are a significant drain on the | ||||||
6 | State's road to financial stability; therefore, be it
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7 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
8 | NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
9 | the Distressed Counties and Communities Task Force is created; | ||||||
10 | and be it further
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11 | RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall consist of the | ||||||
12 | following members: 4 members appointed by the Governor; 2 | ||||||
13 | members appointed by the President of the Senate; 1 member | ||||||
14 | appointed by the Minority Leader of the Senate; 2 members | ||||||
15 | appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives; 1 | ||||||
16 | member appointed by the Minority Leader of the House of | ||||||
17 | Representatives; 1 member appointed by the Director of the | ||||||
18 | Department of Human Services; 1 member appointed by the | ||||||
19 | Illinois State Board of Education; 1 member appointed by the | ||||||
20 | Department of Children and Family Services; 1 member appointed | ||||||
21 | by the Illinois Housing Development Authority; and 1 member | ||||||
22 | appointed by the Director of the Human Rights Commission; and | ||||||
23 | be it further |
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1 | RESOLVED, That this Task Force shall take testimony from | ||||||
2 | stake holders in distressed counties and communities, | ||||||
3 | representatives of appropriate State agencies, and community | ||||||
4 | leaders to explore, discuss, and coordinate efforts to prepare | ||||||
5 | an action plan to offer enhanced State governmental services in | ||||||
6 | a meaningful way, to foster leadership, and to create programs | ||||||
7 | that can succeed in addressing the myriad social and economic | ||||||
8 | problems that exist in order to benefit all Illinois | ||||||
9 | communities; and be it further | ||||||
10 | RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall hold hearings in | ||||||
11 | distressed counties and communities to hear directly from | ||||||
12 | stakeholders on their ideas for an innovative anti-poverty | ||||||
13 | agenda; and be it further | ||||||
14 | RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall find and create | ||||||
15 | innovative means to address and meet the numerous needs of | ||||||
16 | those who receive State social services, design plans to assist | ||||||
17 | and enhance the efforts of State agencies and local governments | ||||||
18 | that provide law enforcement and social services, analyze | ||||||
19 | successful State and local governmental programs in other | ||||||
20 | locations in the subject areas of law enforcement, court | ||||||
21 | administration, corrections, job skill retraining, education, | ||||||
22 | economic opportunity, job creation, social services, and | ||||||
23 | public health, and develop an action plan that includes |
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1 | information about changes and improvements to existing | ||||||
2 | programs, statutes, and regulations that can be made by | ||||||
3 | reallocating existing resources and not increasing State | ||||||
4 | taxes; and be it further | ||||||
5 | RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall develop a legislative | ||||||
6 | and administrative agenda that can serve as a national model | ||||||
7 | for developing a successful anti-poverty agenda; and be it | ||||||
8 | further | ||||||
9 | RESOLVED, That the Office of the Governor shall provide | ||||||
10 | administrative support for the Task Force; and be it further | ||||||
11 | RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall submit a report to the | ||||||
12 | Illinois House of Representatives within 60 days of the | ||||||
13 | completion of the hearings held by the Task Force.
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