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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3Representatives recognize that there are distressed counties
4and communities throughout Illinois that struggle with many
5economic and social problems including crime, unemployment,
6poverty, mortgage foreclosures, declining property values,
7deficiencies in public health services, and deficits in public
8education; and
 
9    WHEREAS, In recent years these economic and social problems
10have become more prevalent and they have exacerbated existing
11conditions which include: inequalities in access to justice in
12the civil court system, an overburdened and ineffective
13criminal justice system, overcrowded correctional facilities,
14increased homelessness, inadequate educational opportunities,
15insufficient affordable housing, inadequate delivery of social
16services to the less fortunate, and deficiencies in the
17availability and quality of public health services; and
 
18    WHEREAS, Some counties and communities disproportionately
19experience these serious social and economic ills; for example,
20Illinois counties which had 16% or more of their population in
21poverty in 2010 included: Alexander, Champaign, Coles, Cook,
22Franklin, Gallatin, Hardin, Jackson, Lawrence, McDonough,
23Macon, Marion, Massac, Perry, Pike, Pope, Pulaski, Saline,

 

 

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1Union, Vermilion, White, Williamson, and Winnebago; and
2municipalities with a population of over 100,000 which had
3family poverty rates of 10% or more are: Aurora, Chicago,
4Joliet, Naperville, Peoria, Rockford, and Springfield; and
 
5    WHEREAS, It is important to take a comprehensive approach
6to the ongoing crisis of distressed counties and communities in
7Illinois and a significant poverty rate is among the best
8indicators that a community is in distress; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Care must be taken when addressing poverty and its
10associated problems in counties with distressed communities
11because an emphasis on serving the largest number of people in
12poverty will miss other areas of the State with significant
13poverty problems and an emphasis on areas with the highest
14rates of poverty will ignore large populations in need, as
15shown by these facts:
16        (1) Cook County has the highest number of persons
17living in poverty (which amounts to nearly 50% of the State's
18poverty population), but DuPage County (which has historically
19been considered to be a wealthy county with a small low-income
20population) has the second-highest number of persons in
21poverty;
22        (2) the 10 poorest counties in Illinois, as measured by
23poverty rate, are generally downstate with small total
24populations and while their poverty rates are very high (the

 

 

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1highest county rate is 31.1%, with an average for all 10 of the
2poorest counties of 21.6%), these counties collectively
3account for less than 10% of the State's total poverty
4population;
5        (3) the 10 counties with the highest numbers of persons
6in poverty are, for the most part, near urban centers with 5 in
7the Chicago metropolitan area and these 10 counties include
8over 70% of the State's poverty population;
9        (4) a Statewide emphasis on the top 10 counties with
10high poverty rates will ignore the needs of 94% of the State's
11poverty population, but an emphasis on the 10 counties with the
12highest numbers of people in poverty will deemphasize the
13counties with the highest poverty rates; and
 
14    WHEREAS, The U.S. Census Bureau on September 12, 2012,
15announced that, in 2011:
16        (1) the median household income in the United States
17declined by 1.5% from the 2010 median, which was the second
18consecutive annual drop;
19        (2) the weighted average poverty threshold for a family
20of four in 2011 was $23,021;
21        (3) the nation's official poverty rate was 15.0
22percent, with 46.2 million people in poverty;
23        (4) and although the poverty rate and number of people
24remained statistically unchanged since 2010, this is the fourth
25year in a row with such significant amounts of poverty in this

 

 

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1country; and
 
2    WHEREAS, The poverty rate in Illinois was 14.2% in 2011 and
3this amounts to a 42% increase in the poverty rate in Illinois
4from 2007 to 2011; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Living in an area with a high poverty rate may
6include threats to life itself; for example, a recent
7comparison of 2 sets of Chicago neighborhoods, the 5 poorest
8and the 5 least poor, showed that:
9        (1) the poorest neighborhoods had a homicide rate that
10is 11 times the homicide rate in the least poor neighborhoods;
11        (2) the mortality rate for the leading causes of death
12in Chicago (cancer, heart disease, diabetes-related illnesses,
13stroke, and unintentional injury) is 5 times higher in the 5
14poorest neighborhoods than it is in the 5 least poor
15neighborhoods;
16        (3) the infant mortality rate is 2 1/2 times higher in
17the poorest neighborhoods than in the 5 least poor
18neighborhoods; and
19        (4) that the Years of Potential Life Lost (YPLL) due to
20homicide in the 5 poorest neighborhoods was 2,172 for every
21100,000 residents (assuming a life expectancy of 75 years)
22compared to the YPLL homicide rate of only 186 in the 5 least
23poor neighborhoods (the concept of Years of Potential Life Lost
24is an estimate of the average years a person would have lived

 

 

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1if he or she had not died prematurely); and
 
2    WHEREAS, So long as these social and economic problems are
3not successfully addressed in distressed counties and
4communities, the cost to tax payers in Illinois for the many
5programs operated or funded by the State will only increase;
6and
 
7    WHEREAS, State government resources are expended in
8ever-increasing amounts to address these social and economic
9problems and those expenditures are a significant drain on the
10State's road to financial stability; and
 
11    WHEREAS, There exist numerous ways for State government
12programs to be operated more efficiently and more economically;
13and
 
14    WHEREAS, State government, taxpayers, and those living in
15distressed counties and communities with a significant poverty
16problem could benefit from the creation of a State action plan
17that identifies: modifications that should be made to existing
18State programs so as to dramatically improve the delivery of
19services, reduce the cost of those services, and eliminate
20wasteful spending; how leadership programs and new educational
21opportunities could foster and equip new leaders; and ways in
22which State government could actively create a change

 

 

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1environment that will have numerous positive impacts; and
 
2    WHEREAS, If more effective, efficient, and economical ways
3to deliver social, law enforcement, correctional, educational,
4and medical programs can be developed, then significant strides
5can be made in the overall welfare of the distressed counties
6and communities and those solutions could be replicated, with
7adjustments as appropriate, to all communities in Illinois;
8therefore, be it
 
9    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
10NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
11urge the Governor to create a Distressed Counties and
12Communities Commission composed of stake holders in distressed
13counties and communities, representatives of appropriate State
14agencies, and community leaders to explore, discuss, and
15coordinate efforts to prepare an action plan to offer enhanced
16State governmental services in a meaningful way, to foster
17leadership, and to create programs that can succeed in
18addressing the myriad social and economic problems that exist;
19this, in turn, can benefit all Illinois communities; and be it
20further;
 
21    RESOLVED, That we urge that the Governor designate an
22executive department to provide administrative support for the
23Commission and appoint members of the Distressed Counties and

 

 

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1Communities Commission by December 31, 2015, so as to allow the
2Distressed Counties and Communities Commission to hold its
3first meeting in January 2016, and be it further
 
4    RESOLVED, That the Distressed Counties and Communities
5Commission be charged with: finding and creating innovative
6means to address and meet the numerous needs of those who
7receive State social services; designing plans to assist and
8enhance the efforts of State agencies and local governments
9that provide law enforcement and social services; analyzing
10successful state and local governmental programs in other
11locales in the subject areas of law enforcement, court
12administration, corrections, job skill retraining, education,
13economic opportunity, job creation, social services, and
14public health; and developing an action plan that includes
15information about changes and improvements to existing
16programs, statutes, and regulations that can be made by
17reallocating existing resources and not increasing State
18taxes; and be it further;
 
19    RESOLVED, That we urge the Governor to call upon the
20Distressed Counties and Communities Commission to hold public
21hearings and issue a written report of its findings and
22recommendations to the Governor and to the General Assembly on
23or before April 15, 2016; and be it further
 

 

 

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1    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
2delivered to the Governor.