Full Text of HB2623 99th General Assembly
HB2623ham001 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY | Rep. Elaine Nekritz Filed: 3/19/2015
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| 1 | | AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 2623
| 2 | | AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 2623 by replacing | 3 | | everything after the enacting clause with the following:
| 4 | | "Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Safe | 5 | | Routes to School Program Act. | 6 | | Section 5. Findings and purpose. Childhood obesity has more | 7 | | than tripled over the past 30 years, creating a youth obesity | 8 | | epidemic. Nearly 18 percent of children, and 21 percent of | 9 | | adolescents, are obese, and 31.9 percent are obese or | 10 | | overweight. Obese children are likely to become obese adults; | 11 | | in fact, an obese older teenager has up to an 80 percent chance | 12 | | of becoming an obese adult. Obesity causes, or is closely | 13 | | linked to, numerous serious health conditions including heart | 14 | | disease, stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure, unhealthy | 15 | | cholesterol, asthma, sleep apnea, gallstones, kidney stones, | 16 | | infertility, and as many as 11 types of cancers, including |
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| 1 | | leukemia, breast, and colon cancer. In addition to harming | 2 | | individual health, obesity also negatively impacts the economy | 3 | | by contributing to higher health care costs, higher | 4 | | transportation costs, and lost labor market productivity. High | 5 | | obesity rates can also impact military readiness.
| 6 | | The purpose of this Act is to improve the public health and | 7 | | safety of children and communities through a reduction in | 8 | | childhood obesity and collision injuries by supporting the | 9 | | successful implementation of Safe Routes to School projects. | 10 | | Safe Routes to School projects aim to improve children's health | 11 | | and reverse the decline in walking and bicycling by funding | 12 | | local projects that support biking and walking to school | 13 | | through education, encouragement, and safer infrastructure, | 14 | | such as new and improved crosswalks, sidewalks, and traffic | 15 | | lights. The need for Safe Routes to School projects is | 16 | | especially strong in low income areas, which typically have the | 17 | | highest obesity rates, inferior pedestrian and biking | 18 | | infrastructure, and higher traffic injury rates for people | 19 | | driving, bicycling, and walking.
| 20 | | Safe Routes to School projects are having a significant | 21 | | impact where implemented. The percentage of students actively | 22 | | traveling to school by walking or biking, as estimated by | 23 | | school administrators, is 60 percent higher overall in schools | 24 | | participating in Safe Routes to School compared with schools | 25 | | that do not participate, and in some schools, the number of | 26 | | students walking or bicycling to school doubled in 3 years. |
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| 1 | | Safe Routes to School projects make it safer and more | 2 | | convenient for everyone to walk and bike to destinations, | 3 | | encouraging a more active and healthier lifestyle that | 4 | | contributes to lower health care costs for the whole community.
| 5 | | Nothing in this Act is intended to prevent local or | 6 | | regional jurisdictions from establishing additional or more | 7 | | rigorous requirements consistent with the purpose of this Act.
| 8 | | Section 10. Definitions.
As used in this Act: | 9 | | "Demonstrated high need area" means either (1) a school or | 10 | | project area in which at least 50%
of the children are eligible | 11 | | to receive free and reduced priced meals under the National | 12 | | School Lunch Program; or (2) a census tract in which the median | 13 | | household income is less than 80% of the statewide average | 14 | | median based on the most current census tract level data from | 15 | | the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey.
| 16 | | "Department" means the Department of Transportation.
| 17 | | "Safe Routes to School" or "SRTS" means programs and | 18 | | initiatives that aim to increase the number and safety of | 19 | | students walking or bicycling to school through education, | 20 | | encouragement, and infrastructure improvements.
| 21 | | "Safe Routes to School infrastructure projects" means | 22 | | planning or engineering projects, located within 2 miles of a | 23 | | school, that support bicycling and walking to the school, such | 24 | | as sidewalk improvements, traffic calming and speed reduction | 25 | | improvements, pedestrian and bicycle crossing improvements, |
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| 1 | | on-street bicycle facilities, off-street bicycle and | 2 | | pedestrian facilities, secure bicycle parking facilities, and | 3 | | traffic diversion or calming improvements.
| 4 | | "Safe Routes to School non-infrastructure projects" means | 5 | | projects that are designed to encourage children to walk and | 6 | | bicycle to school, including public awareness campaigns and | 7 | | outreach to press and community leaders, traffic education and | 8 | | enforcement in the vicinity of schools, student education | 9 | | sessions on bicycle and pedestrian safety, health, and | 10 | | environment, and funding for training volunteers and managers.
| 11 | | "Safe Routes to School projects" means both Safe Routes to | 12 | | School infrastructure projects and Safe Routes to School | 13 | | non-infrastructure projects.
| 14 | | Section 15. Establishment of Safe Routes to School Fund. | 15 | | There shall be established in the State treasury a Safe Routes | 16 | | to School Fund into which the Department of Transportation | 17 | | shall deposit funds for use by the Safe Routes to School | 18 | | Program and Safe Routes to School projects. | 19 | | Section 20. Establishment of the Safe Routes to School | 20 | | Program; staffing and technical assistance.
| 21 | | (a) The Department shall establish and administer a Safe | 22 | | Routes to School Program, which will support increasing the | 23 | | safety and convenience of school children walking or biking to | 24 | | school and fund Safe Routes to School projects in local |
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| 1 | | jurisdictions.
| 2 | | (b) The Department shall allocate funds to maintain a | 3 | | full-time position of Safe Routes to School Program | 4 | | Coordinator.
| 5 | | (c) The Safe Routes to School Program shall:
| 6 | | (1) provide outreach, education, and technical and | 7 | | application assistance relating to the Safe Routes to | 8 | | School Program to local jurisdictions and schools; and
| 9 | | (2) ensure the timely award and obligation of funds to | 10 | | Safe Routes to School infrastructure projects and Safe | 11 | | Routes to School non-infrastructure projects.
| 12 | | (d) The Safe Routes to School Program shall develop and | 13 | | periodically revise program guidelines for administration of | 14 | | the Safe Routes to School Program that establish:
| 15 | | (1) a clear application process, including project | 16 | | selection criteria;
| 17 | | (2) schedules and procedures;
| 18 | | (3) performance measures;
| 19 | | (4) student travel data collection procedures;
| 20 | | (5) program evaluation measures and procedures; and
| 21 | | (6) any other matters relevant to administration of the | 22 | | Safe Routes to School Program.
| 23 | | Section 25. Mix of infrastructure and non-infrastructure | 24 | | projects. The SRTS Program shall fund both Safe Routes to | 25 | | School infrastructure projects and Safe Routes to School |
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| 1 | | non-infrastructure projects with no less than 10 percent and no | 2 | | more than 30 percent of funds authorized in the Safe Routes to | 3 | | School Fund reserved for Safe Routes to School | 4 | | non-infrastructure projects each funding cycle. | 5 | | Section 30. Demonstrated high needs areas.
| 6 | | (a) The Safe Routes to School Program shall develop a plan, | 7 | | with specific goals and benchmarks, which are designed to | 8 | | ensure that demonstrated high need areas receive technical | 9 | | assistance, resources, and funding for Safe Routes to School | 10 | | projects consistent with their need.
| 11 | | (b) The Safe Routes to School Program shall provide | 12 | | demonstrated high need areas with pre-application assistance, | 13 | | including application preparation assistance, planning grants, | 14 | | and engineering consulting services, as needed.
| 15 | | (c) The Safe Routes to School Program shall identify | 16 | | barriers experienced by demonstrated high need areas in | 17 | | implementing Safe Routes to School projects and seek to | 18 | | alleviate those barriers through procedural changes and | 19 | | provision of resources and technical assistance.
| 20 | | Section 35. Non-state funding sources. Nothing in this Act | 21 | | shall be construed to limit, restrict, or otherwise discourage | 22 | | the allocation of federal or other non-State funds to the Safe | 23 | | Routes to School Program or Safe Routes to School projects. |
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| 1 | | Section 40. Report to General Assembly. The Secretary of | 2 | | Transportation, in consultation with the Safe Routes to School | 3 | | Program Coordinator, shall submit to the General Assembly, no | 4 | | later than 20 days prior to convening of each annual session of | 5 | | the General Assembly, an annual report of the state and | 6 | | progress of the Safe Routes to School Program, which shall | 7 | | include but not be limited to:
| 8 | | (1) an accounting of all funds appropriated, awarded, | 9 | | and obligated;
| 10 | | (2) a summary of all projects funded;
| 11 | | (3) an estimation of the benefits conferred by the | 12 | | Program;
| 13 | | (4) a progress report on the plan, goals, and | 14 | | benchmarks for demonstrated high need communities required | 15 | | under subsection (a) of Section 30 of this Act; and
| 16 | | (5) any recommendations for legislative changes, | 17 | | including proposals to improve program effectiveness.
| 18 | | Section 100. The State Finance Act is amended by adding | 19 | | Section 5.866 as follows: | 20 | | (30 ILCS 105/5.866 new) | 21 | | Sec. 5.866. The Safe Routes to School Fund. ".
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