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SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 1761
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(As Amended by Senate Amendment No. 2)

 
3    WHEREAS, The State of Illinois has had a long-standing
4statutory goal of spending 20% of all procurement dollars on
5minority and women-owned businesses; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Investing in minority and women-owned businesses
7is a central economic development strategy for the State to
8ensure the businesses that prosper from the State's need for
9goods and services reflects the diversity of the entire State;
10and
 
11    WHEREAS, Legal services is one of the components that the
12State's statutory goal for spending 20% for minority and
13women-owned businesses apply towards; and
 
14    WHEREAS, The last year where full data is available on
15actual spending with minority and women-owned businesses is
16FY2015; and
 
17    WHEREAS, In FY2015, the State spent more than $35,000,000
18on outside law firms in legal services; and
 
19    WHEREAS, Only 4% of the State's legal services in FY15 were
20with minority and women-owned firms; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, The total spent on African-American owned law
2firms in FY15 was under $200,000, which is significantly less
3than 1% of the total spent on legal services the entire fiscal
4year; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Governor Rauner's administration was only
6responsible for half of the legal services spent in FY15 as the
7Governor was not inaugurated until the middle of that fiscal
8year; and
 
9    WHEREAS, While complete data for FY16 is not yet available,
10there have been a series of procurements for legal services
11that did not include any goal for minority or women-owned
12firms, including one posted April 8th for a Swaps Bond Counsel
13for the Governor's Office of Management and Budget; and
 
14    WHEREAS, Unless the Rauner administration makes a
15significant effort to increase the participation of minority
16and women-owned firms in legal spending, the administration is
17likely on track to dramatically fall short of the statutory
18goal of 20% participation; therefore, be it
 
19    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL
20ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that the Rauner
21administration is urged to comply with the statutory goal of

 

 

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120% participation with minority and women-owned firms, as well
2as the statutory goal for veteran-owned firms, particularly as
3it relates to professional services and legal services; and be
4it further
 
5    RESOLVED, That the Rauner administration is urged to make
6every effort for FY16 to satisfy the 20% goal for participation
7with minority and women-owned firms in professional services as
8well as the statutory goal for veteran-owned firms, as that is
9the first full fiscal year completely administered by the
10Rauner administration; and be it further
 
11    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
12delivered to Governor Rauner.