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91_HR0699
LRB9113533STsbB
1 HOUSE RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, The Unemployment Insurance Act was first passed
3 in 1937 and has been amended from time to time thereafter;
4 and
5 WHEREAS, The State public policy underlying the
6 Unemployment Insurance Act is ". . . to lessen the menace to
7 the health, safety and morals of the people of Illinois, and
8 to encourage stabilization of employment", thus making
9 necessary "compulsory unemployment insurance upon a statewide
10 scale providing for the setting aside of reserves during
11 periods of employment to be used to pay benefits during
12 periods of unemployment"; and
13 WHEREAS, There have been rapid changes in the Illinois
14 workforce in recent years, including: between 1970 and 1990,
15 twice as many women entered the workforce as did men; between
16 1969 and 1998 the percentage of women in the workforce with a
17 child under age 3 increased from 23% to 63%; many
18 newly-created jobs are low-paying and unstable service sector
19 jobs; many other newly-created jobs are seasonal or
20 temporary; and over 300,000 former recipients of welfare have
21 been added to the ranks of the workforce; and
22 WHEREAS, During recent years fewer than 40% of unemployed
23 workers, as counted by the Illinois Department of Employment
24 Security, received unemployment insurance benefits in
25 Illinois at any given time; fewer than 30% of unemployed
26 women received unemployment insurance benefits at any given
27 time; and, according to at least one study, only 11% of the
28 women who had received welfare in the previous 24 months
29 received any unemployment insurance upon losing a job; and
30 WHEREAS, There is a need to determine whether the
31 unemployment insurance program as currently structured is
32 serving the public policy goals it is designed to meet, given
-2- LRB9113533STsbB
1 the current workforce and economy in Illinois, particularly
2 with respect to female workers, new workers, seasonal
3 workers, workers who are parents or who have other pressing
4 family or medical issues that prevent them from working, and
5 workers who are new parents on leave under the federal Family
6 and Medical Leave Act; and
7 WHEREAS, The ability of the unemployment insurance
8 program to provide benefits to workers depends on the
9 solvency of the unemployment trust fund, and that fund's
10 current solvency is due not only to taxes on employers but
11 also to benefit cuts absorbed by workers during the 1980's
12 specifically for the purpose of improving the solvency of the
13 fund; therefore, be it
14 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
15 NINETY-FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
16 there should be created a Subcommittee on Unemployment
17 Insurance for the New Workforce of the House Committee on
18 Labor and Commerce; and be it further
19 RESOLVED, that the Subcommittee be directed to conduct
20 hearings around the State during the year 2000, accumulate
21 information on House Bills 3904 and 4428 and about other
22 issues of the Unemployment Insurance Program related to the
23 current Illinois workforce, and develop recommendations and
24 include these in a report to be submitted to the full
25 Committee, the Speaker of the House, and the Minority Leader
26 of the House on December 1, 2000.