HR0858 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0858 LRB097 20778 GRL 67380 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, No resident of Illinois should have to be food-insecure; and

WHEREAS, 1,873,010, or 1 in 7 residents of the State of Illinois are experiencing food insecurity, meaning they lack access to adequate nutritious food for a healthy lifestyle; and

WHEREAS, 745,310, or just under 1 in 4 children in the State of Illinois are experiencing food insecurity; and

WHEREAS, Food insecurity is experienced in every county in the State of Illinois; and

WHEREAS, Feeding Illinois food banks have seen a 73% increase in requests for emergency food assistance over the past 3 years; and

WHEREAS, Hunger increases health care costs, lowers workers' productivity, harms children's development, and diminishes children's educational performance; and

WHEREAS, Fighting hunger is a public-private partnership; in Illinois, a strong private network exists that has provided 1.4 million people in Illinois with more than 127 million pounds of food in 2010; however, private charity cannot do it alone and a strong federal hunger relief safety net is required; and

WHEREAS, The Illinois General Assembly established the Commission to End Hunger in 2010 in recognition of the need to end food insecurity in the State of Illinois; and

WHEREAS, The Commission to End Hunger acknowledges in its recommendations the critical importance of federal programs that address food and nutrition; and

WHEREAS, The federal Farm Bill establishes the funding and policy for vital food and nutrition programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP); SNAP is the cornerstone of the nutrition safety net, with 1.9 million, or 1 in 6, Illinois residents enrolled in the program; just under half of those utilizing the program are children; and

WHEREAS, Any reduction in funding of the SNAP Program will increase the number of food-insecure people in Illinois; and

WHEREAS, Maintaining the current model of 100% federal funding of SNAP assistance is essential to retaining the program's effectiveness in fighting hunger; and

WHEREAS, TEFAP is a means-tested federal program that provides food commodities at no cost to Illinoisans in need of short-term hunger relief through organizations like food banks, pantries, soup kitchens, and emergency shelters; and

WHEREAS, CSFP leverages government buying power to provide nutritious food packages to 17,473 vulnerable individuals in Illinois in Fiscal Year 2011, nearly 97% of which are seniors; and

WHEREAS, The decisions made in developing the next Farm Bill will impact the ability of food-insecure Illinoisans to access the food and nutrition safety they need; and

WHEREAS, The City of Chicago, in partnership with the Greater Chicago Food Depository and other anti-hunger advocates, wants to fully support addressing food insecurity in the City of Chicago; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge Congress to develop the 2012 Farm Bill with a strong Title IV that protects and strengthens federal food and nutrition programs; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we state our belief that the 2012 Farm Bill must oppose proposals to cap or reduce funding for SNAP; oppose proposals to restrict eligibility or reduce benefits; support proposals to increase benefit adequacy to ensure that households have the resources to purchase a nutritionally adequate diet; support proposals that would make mandatory funding for TEFAP food more responsive to changes in need; enhance the United States Secretary of Agriculture's authority to purchase bonus commodities in times of high need for emergency food relief in addition to times of low commodity prices; reauthorize funding for TEFAP Storage and Distribution and TEFAP Infrastructure grants; and protect funding for CSFP while transitioning the program to a senior-only program and grandfathering in current participants; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be delivered to the members of the Illinois congressional delegation, the President of the United States, and the United States Secretary of Agriculture.