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91_SR0298
LRB9113344CBcb
1 SENATE RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, Illinois is a coal-producing and coal-consuming
3 State that has benefitted tremendously from the hard,
4 dangerous work of retired coal miners; and
5 WHEREAS, The United States government entered into a
6 contract with the coal miners in 1946 that created the United
7 Mine Workers of America Health and Retirement Funds; and
8 WHEREAS, This contract was signed in the White House in a
9 ceremony with President Harry Truman; and
10 WHEREAS, A federal commission established by U.S.
11 Secretary of Labor Elizabeth Dole concluded in 1990: "Retired
12 coal miners have legitimate expectations of health care
13 benefits for life; that was the promise they received during
14 their working lives and that is how they planned their
15 retirement years. That commitment should be honored."; and
16 WHEREAS, This promise became law in 1992 when Congress
17 passed, and President George Bush signed, the Coal Industry
18 Retiree Health Benefit Act (the Coal Act); and
19 WHEREAS, The Coal Act reiterated the promise of lifetime
20 health benefits for retired coal miners and their dependents;
21 and
22 WHEREAS, Congress intended the Coal Act to:
23 "(1) remedy problems with the provision and funding
24 of health care benefits with respect to the beneficiaries
25 of multiemployer benefit plans that provide health care
26 benefits to retirees in the coal industry;
27 (2) allow for sufficient operating assets for such
28 plans; and
29 (3) provide for the continuation of a privately
30 financed self-sufficient program for the delivery of
31 health care benefits to the beneficiaries of such plans";
-2- LRB9113344CBcb
1 and
2 WHEREAS, Certain court decisions have eroded the
3 financial structure that Congress put in place under the Coal
4 Act; and
5 WHEREAS, These court decisions have placed the continued
6 provision of health benefits to retired coal miners in
7 jeopardy; therefore, be it
8 RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FIRST GENERAL
9 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge the Congress
10 and the Executive Branch of the United States to work
11 together to reform the financial structure of the Coal Act
12 and to ensure that retired coal miners continue to receive
13 the health care benefits they were promised and so rightly
14 deserve; and be it further
15 RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be sent
16 to the President of the United States and to each member of
17 the Illinois congressional delegation.