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| 1 | SENATE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, The General Assembly and the Governor have failed | ||||||
| 3 | to enact a State budget for the last 23 months; and
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| 4 | WHEREAS, The State adds approximately 11 million dollars in | ||||||
| 5 | debt every day that a budget is not signed into law; and
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| 6 | WHEREAS, The State has not met its contractual obligations | ||||||
| 7 | to the numerous vendors that render services; and | ||||||
| 8 | WHEREAS, It is costing taxpayers approximately 44 thousand | ||||||
| 9 | dollars every day we convene for special session; and | ||||||
| 10 | WHEREAS, The State, its local municipalities, and their | ||||||
| 11 | institutions continue to suffer from continual downgrades from | ||||||
| 12 | all
of the major credit rating agencies - nearing junk status; | ||||||
| 13 | and | ||||||
| 14 | WHEREAS, The lack of a State budget has caused homeless | ||||||
| 15 | shelters to close on Christmas Eve, youth violence prevention
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| 16 | centers to go out of business, domestic abuse programs to be | ||||||
| 17 | defunded, and a myriad of other essential human services
needs | ||||||
| 18 | have gone unfunded; and | ||||||
| 19 | WHEREAS, The General Assembly and the Governor have not met | ||||||
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| 1 | their duty to fully fund the future of our State - the
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| 2 | education of the children; and | ||||||
| 3 | WHEREAS, Teacher strikes, school closings, instructional | ||||||
| 4 | time decreases, and faculty layoffs loom over school districts
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| 5 | and institutions of higher learning across the State; and | ||||||
| 6 | WHEREAS, Thousands of students, like generations of | ||||||
| 7 | Illinois' students before them, continue to count on the | ||||||
| 8 | funding of
the Monetary Assistance Program to create promising | ||||||
| 9 | futures for themselves and equal access to education; and | ||||||
| 10 | WHEREAS, Without the guarantee of those funds in-state | ||||||
| 11 | students are seeking educational advancement outside of | ||||||
| 12 | Illinois
and over 16,000 thousand students migrated to | ||||||
| 13 | out-of-state universities; and | ||||||
| 14 | WHEREAS, As economic development and opportunity in the | ||||||
| 15 | State have become less available particularly to ethnic and
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| 16 | racial minorities - Illinois has seen a historic spike in the | ||||||
| 17 | murder rate; and
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| 18 | WHEREAS, For the 70th month in a row, Illinois has had the | ||||||
| 19 | highest unemployment rate among African Americans
in the | ||||||
| 20 | nation, nearing 15%; and
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| 1 | WHEREAS, Forty-four percent of African American young men | ||||||
| 2 | between the ages of 20-24 in Illinois are unemployed and
out of | ||||||
| 3 | school; and
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| 4 | WHEREAS, Things are not getting better for middle class and | ||||||
| 5 | poor citizens of our State during this historic budget
impasse - | ||||||
| 6 | people are hurting; therefore, be it
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| 7 | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL | ||||||
| 8 | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge the Governor to | ||||||
| 9 | wholeheartedly commit to enacting a State budget; and be it | ||||||
| 10 | further | ||||||
| 11 | RESOLVED, That the Governor is urged to call a meeting with | ||||||
| 12 | legislative leaders to negotiate a budget; and be it further | ||||||
| 13 | RESOLVED, That the Governor is urged to dedicate all of his | ||||||
| 14 | resources to work toward a solution to the budget impasse; and | ||||||
| 15 | be it
further
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| 16 | RESOLVED, That the Governor and legislative leaders are | ||||||
| 17 | urged to meet daily until a budget is enacted.
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