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92_HR0403
LRB9209083RHrh
1 HOUSE RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, The State of Illinois is home to a substantial
3 number of candy makers; and
4 WHEREAS, Thanks to the hard work of the nation's most
5 productive candy workers, the Chicago metropolitan area is
6 known as the "Candy Capital of the United States"; and
7 WHEREAS, The State of Illinois has 15,000 workers in the
8 confectionery industry, 9,000 in the City of Chicago alone,
9 and the State and its environs enjoy the benefits and healthy
10 economy that such employment provides; and
11 WHEREAS, The 1996 Federal Freedom to Farm law, meant to
12 wean farmers from federal subsidies, left in place a program
13 of price supports and special loans to prop up the price of
14 U.S. sugar; and
15 WHEREAS, As a result of the Freedom to Farm legislation,
16 Federal subsidies have declined for cotton, corn and wheat
17 but have risen to over $600 per acre for sugar; and
18 WHEREAS, The benefits of this legislation are lopsided,
19 as 1% of sugar cane (largely grown in Florida) growers reap
20 58% of the support program's benefits; and
21 WHEREAS, Taxpayers will pay $1.4 million a month to store
22 9% of last year's sugar crop which was forfeited to the
23 Federal government as part of the sugar support program; and
24 WHEREAS, The program requires United States industrial
25 users of sugar to pay double the world price for sugar,
26 resulting in an annual cost to consumers of approximately $2
27 billion; and
28 WHEREAS, This Federal sugar program and the policy behind
29 it inflates production prices and puts Chicago confection
30 industry jobs at risk; with the local confectionary suffering
-2- LRB9209083RHrh
1 and 11% decline in employment since 1991 and a steady decline
2 in new plant investment; and
3 WHEREAS, A change in the Federal Freedom to Farm law is
4 needed to remove this artificial and costly price support
5 program to keep our confection industry competitive and to
6 keep Chicago's title as "Candy Capital of the United States";
7 therefore, be it
8 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
9 NINETY-SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
10 we urge the United States Congress to pass legislation
11 reforming the Federal Freedom to Farm law and the sugar
12 support program to correct the current inequities; and
13 RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be sent
14 to each member of the Illinois congressional delegation.