HR0579LRB100 13755 MST 28473 r

1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The State of Illinois has a waiver from the
3federal time limit that restricts Supplemental Nutrition
4Assistance Program (SNAP) eligibility for non-disabled adults
5without minor children to three out of 36 months unless they
6are working at least 20 hours per week; that waiver expires on
7December 31, 2017; and
 
8    WHEREAS, Illinois is eligible for this waiver due to
9continued high labor surplus and unemployment rates; this
10expiration of the waiver would leave 260,000 low-income
11Illinoisans without the ability to purchase adequate,
12nutritious food; and
 
13    WHEREAS, Those 260,000 individuals are veterans struggling
14to find work, men and women experiencing homelessness or living
15with serious and persistent mental illnesses, displaced
16workers (coal miners), and mothers and fathers who took time
17away from the workforce to raise their children; these
18individuals face significant and often multiple barriers to
19working at least 20 hours per week, including very low
20education levels, functional illiteracy, sporadic work
21histories, and criminal records; and
 
22    WHEREAS, The loss of SNAP will leave these men and women

 

 

HR0579- 2 -LRB100 13755 MST 28473 r

1without desperately needed resources; their average income is
2$283 per month and losing their average $132 monthly SNAP
3benefit will put them at risk of severe hunger; and
 
4    WHEREAS, Leaders of Illinois food banks have said that
5their emergency food networks cannot absorb an increase of
6260,000 individuals into an already overburdened system; and
 
7    WHEREAS, It is in the State's financial interest to extend
8the waiver; loss of the waiver will result in no savings for
9the State since SNAP benefits are entirely federally funded;
10and
 
11    WHEREAS, Illinois would lose as much as $412 million in
12federal funds, damaging the State's economy and severely
13impacting businesses in neighborhoods where SNAP recipients
14are concentrated; and
 
15    WHEREAS, Organizations such as the Greater Chicago Food
16Depository, the Heartland Alliance, the Illinois Hunger
17Coalition, and the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty
18Law have in the past urged the continuation of the waiver;
19therefore, be it
 
20    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
21HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we

 

 

HR0579- 3 -LRB100 13755 MST 28473 r

1urge Governor Bruce Rauner to intervene on behalf of the
2260,000 Illinois residents faced with the termination of their
3Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits; and be it
4further
 
5    RESOLVED, That we urge Governor Rauner request a continuing
6waiver of the federal time limit that restricts eligibility for
7non-disabled adults without minor children to three out of 36
8months unless they are working at least 20 hours per week; and
9be it further
 
10    RESOLVED, That suitable copy of this resolution be
11delivered to Governor Rauner.