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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, On July 2, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed
3into law the Land Grant College Act of 1862, sponsored by
4Vermont Congressman Justin Morrill; officially titled "An Act
5Donating Public Lands to the Several States and Territories
6which may provide Colleges for the Benefit of Agriculture and
7the Mechanic Arts," the Morrill Act provided each state with
830,000 acres of federal land for each member in their
9Congressional delegation; the land was then sold by the states
10and the proceeds used to fund public colleges that focused on
11agriculture and the mechanical arts; sixty-nine colleges were
12funded by these land grants, including the University of
13Illinois; and
 
14    WHEREAS, In 1890, the Second Morrill Land Grant Act of 1890
15provided for an annual federal appropriation for the states,
16including for use in agriculture and mechanic arts community
17extension services, laying the basis for today's University of
18Illinois Extension Service and subsequent community extension
19services, including Illinois county fairs and the Illinois
20State Fair in Springfield; and
 
21    WHEREAS, In 1901, Joliet Junior College was established as
22America's first public community college, as an experimental
23postgraduate high school program, the "brainchild" of J.

 

 

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1Stanley Brown, Superintendent of Joliet Township High School
2and William Rainey Harper, President of the University of
3Chicago; and
 
4    WHEREAS, In 1917, the federal Smith-Hughes National
5Vocational Education Act of 1917 and subsequent federal
6legislation provided for annual federal funding for vocational
7and home economics programs, for vocational research,
8including through the Perkins Vocational Education Act of 1984,
9and for many technology skill programs carried out in high
10schools and community colleges; and
 
11    WHEREAS, In 1936, the Rural Electrification Act provided
12for the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) rural
13development and the Rural Electrification Administration to
14take responsibility, through loans and grants to cooperatives
15and local providers, to bring electricity to rural America,
16and, in 1949, the Rural Electrification Administration took
17responsibility to extend telephone services to rural areas, and
18became linked in 1965 and 1972 with the Appalachian Regional
19Development and the Rural Development Acts, and became the
20Rural Utilities Service in 1994; and
 
21    WHEREAS, With the many research projects in Illinois which
22contributed to the development of the public Internet by 1995,
23the University of Illinois extension and other parties created

 

 

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1pioneering online community development tools available in
2every county by 1998, and, beginning in 2000, worked with the
3USDA-supported Rural Partners, Illinois Rural Health
4Association, Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs, the office
5of the Lt. Governor under several administrations, and provider
6and consumer organizations, to host annual Rural
7Telecommunication and Health Conferences, initially bringing
8together rural parties and then adding parties from
9metropolitan Chicago in strong networks linking Internet
10infrastructure, services, and policy; and
 
11    WHEREAS, In 1999 and 2000, the Illinois General Assembly
12adopted the Illinois Century Network law, linking schools,
13libraries, and other public institutions with Internet
14services, and the Eliminate the Digital Divide Law to provide
15digital literacy services through community technology centers
16in low income communities throughout the State; now, the
17Illinois Century Network serves 9000 schools, libraries, and
18community anchor institutions, and plays a role as a major
19"middle mile" fiber provider across the State; from 2002 to
202005, the statewide Illinois Community Technology Consortium
21project (funded with $1.3 million in community investment
22proceeds from Ameritech-SBC merger and matched by $2.7 million
23in federal, community foundation, State, and local grants and
24in-kind contributions), worked with institutions and circuit
25riders in all regions of Illinois, with assistance from UI

 

 

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1Extension in evaluation, professional development, and
2network-building; and
 
3    WHEREAS, From these efforts, in 2004 the University of
4Illinois Urban and Regional Planning department created a
5policy report for Illinois Online, which became the basis for
6the creation of the Illinois Broadband Deployment Council in
72005, and with a newly appointed Broadband Deployment Council,
8launched in 2010; and
 
9    WHEREAS, In 2007, the Illinois General Assembly adopted the
10High Speed Internet Act which led to the creation of the
11Illinois public-private partnership for broadband data,
12infrastructure access, and extension of broadband adoption and
13use; and
 
14    WHEREAS, In 2007, the Federal Communications Commission
15began its Pilot Rural Health Care Program to link rural
16hospitals, clinics, and providers through high speed Internet,
17primarily fiber and fixed wireless, and the Illinois Rural
18Health Net was awarded $21 million for 3 years of activity,
19which began after the Illinois General Assembly, in January
202009, provided matching funds, along with funding electronic
21health record pilot programs in all regions of Illinois; and
 
22    WHEREAS, In 2008, the Rural Utilities Service, through the

 

 

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1federal Farm Bill and the 2009 American Recovery and
2Reinvestment Act, took on major responsibilities to bring high
3speed Internet, or broadband Internet, infrastructure, and
4services to rural areas, in cooperation with the United States
5Department of Commerce's National Telecommunication and
6Information Administration; and
 
7    WHEREAS, In 2009 and 2010, Illinois institutions,
8companies, municipalities, and nonprofit organizations
9received about $250 million in Federal USDA and Department of
10Commerce infrastructure and services multi-year awards,
11matched by broadband funds authorized by the Illinois General
12Assembly capital bill, and coordinated through a series of
13Regional Broadband Summits in Naperville, Chicago, Carbondale,
14and Champaign; and
 
15    WHEREAS, In 2011, Illinois budget constraints presented
16challenges to future financial support for some Internet
17extension programs, including Internet infrastructure and
18service programs after the completion of federal funding in
192013, and the need to provide for Illinois Eliminate the
20Digital Divide digital literacy programs; public-private
21cooperation has been pledged to develop multi-year structures
22and commitments for sustainability of these programs,
23including through networks developed and strengthened by the
24Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity,

 

 

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1Illinois land grant institutions, State universities,
2community colleges, and community anchor institution networks
3in each of the 48 community college areas; and
 
4    WHEREAS, In fall 2011, the Federal Communications
5Commission launched the Universal Service Reform Program to
6integrate the provision of regular telephone service with
7Internet service in all states, with the greatest impact on
8rural areas that have opportunities to benefit from combined
9world-class telephone and Internet service through
10public-private cooperation; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Investments in Internet infrastructure and
12services programs have been demonstrated to bring a 10 times
13return-on-investment in economic activity, and to serve as
14crucial anchors for Illinois research, development, and job
15creation in technology firms supported by digital skills
16programs at all levels; and
 
17    WHEREAS, The United States Postal Service cites the need
18for Internet connectivity to increase from today's 65-70%
19statewide (with many communities with less than 50%
20connectivity) to 85-95% for the United States to remain
21competitive in the world, and development organizations cite
22the need for fiber and advanced fixed wireless facilities
23providing from 100 megabit to 1 gigabit and higher service in

 

 

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1the next 5 years in order to retain and attract job-creating
2development; and
 
3    WHEREAS, On September 10-15, 2012, almost 90,000
4participants will convene at Chicago's McCormick Place for the
5biannual International Manufacturing Technology Show,
6including 9,000 students and educators at the Student Summit
7(Chicago's largest trade show), and many public officials and
8technology students and educators, as well as equipment
9manufacturers from across the State will be attending;
10therefore, be it
 
11    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL
12ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we celebrate and
13commemorate, during 2012, the pioneering activities of
14Illinois institutions, companies, and agencies, particularly
15Land Grant-based research-teaching-extension universities,
16State universities, and community colleges to achieve
17Universal Internet Extension in Illinois; and be it further
 
18    RESOLVED, That we work with the University of Illinois, the
19Illinois Department of Economic Opportunity, and related
20parties for Illinois and local elected officials to participate
21in appropriate research and extension celebrations of the
22Morrill Land Grant Act Sesquicentennial events, including
23showcasing groundbreaking events for economic development, and

 

 

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1events at county fairs and the Illinois State Fair; and be it
2further
 
3    RESOLVED, That we work with Illinois schools, libraries,
4and community institutions to instill understanding of the
5importance of Digital Age beginning-to-advanced technology
6skills at all levels, including spreading regular information
7about opportunities for students, families, and educators from
8all regions of Illinois to work, including in local
9presentations by public officials; and be it further
 
10    RESOLVED, That we work to develop Illinois Broadband
11Awareness Programs with Partnership for a Connected Illinois
12and Community Anchor Institution networks in each library
13district, municipality, and county, watershed and community
14college districts, with regional planning bodies, and with
15Internet extension and economic development teams to highlight
16the benefits of broadband Internet skills and connectivity to
17positively impact the lives of families, businesses, and
18communities in meeting the 7 National Needs for Broadband
19(Health, Economic Opportunity, Education, Energy &
20Environment, Government Performance, Civic Engagement, and
21Public Safety) developed in the Federal Communications
22Commission's National Broadband Plan of 2010; and be it further
 
23    RESOLVED, That we request the appropriate Illinois Senate

 

 

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1and House committees to work with their respective higher
2education, education, telecommunications, economic
3development, and healthcare committees, and with the Governor
4and all Constitutional officers, to plan for such Morrill Act
5Sesquicentennial commemoration and celebration events in
6Illinois and elsewhere.