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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 | ||||||
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
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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
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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;
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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
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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;
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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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