Bill Text: IL HR0581 | 2011-2012 | 97th General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Celebrates the 2012 anniversary of the Morrill Land Grant Act.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Failed) 2013-01-08 - Session Sine Die [HR0581 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2011-HR0581-Introduced.html
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1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, On July 2, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed | ||||||
3 | into law the Land Grant College Act of 1862, sponsored by | ||||||
4 | Vermont Congressman Justin Morrill; officially titled "An Act | ||||||
5 | Donating Public Lands to the Several States and Territories | ||||||
6 | which may provide Colleges for the Benefit of Agriculture and | ||||||
7 | the Mechanic Arts," the Morrill Act provided each state with | ||||||
8 | 30,000 acres of federal land for each member in their | ||||||
9 | Congressional delegation; the land was then sold by the states | ||||||
10 | and the proceeds used to fund public colleges that focused on | ||||||
11 | agriculture and the mechanical arts; sixty-nine colleges were | ||||||
12 | funded by these land grants, including the University of | ||||||
13 | Illinois; and
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14 | WHEREAS, In 1890, the Second Morrill Land Grant Act of 1890 | ||||||
15 | provided for an annual federal appropriation for the states, | ||||||
16 | including for use in agriculture and mechanic arts community | ||||||
17 | extension services, laying the basis for today's University of | ||||||
18 | Illinois Extension Service and subsequent community extension | ||||||
19 | services, including Illinois county fairs and the Illinois | ||||||
20 | State Fair in Springfield; and
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21 | WHEREAS, In 1901, Joliet Junior College was established as | ||||||
22 | America's first public community college, as an experimental | ||||||
23 | postgraduate high school program, the "brainchild" of J. |
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1 | Stanley Brown, Superintendent of Joliet Township High School | ||||||
2 | and William Rainey Harper, President of the University of | ||||||
3 | Chicago; and
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4 | WHEREAS, In 1917, the federal Smith-Hughes National | ||||||
5 | Vocational Education Act of 1917 and subsequent federal | ||||||
6 | legislation provided for annual federal funding for vocational | ||||||
7 | and home economics programs, for vocational research, | ||||||
8 | including through the Perkins Vocational Education Act of 1984, | ||||||
9 | and for many technology skill programs carried out in high | ||||||
10 | schools and community colleges; and
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11 | WHEREAS, In 1936, the Rural Electrification Act provided | ||||||
12 | for the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) rural | ||||||
13 | development and the Rural Electrification Administration to | ||||||
14 | take responsibility, through loans and grants to cooperatives | ||||||
15 | and local providers, to bring electricity to rural America, | ||||||
16 | and, in 1949, the Rural Electrification Administration took | ||||||
17 | responsibility to extend telephone services to rural areas, and | ||||||
18 | became linked in 1965 and 1972 with the Appalachian Regional | ||||||
19 | Development and the Rural Development Acts, and became the | ||||||
20 | Rural Utilities Service in 1994; and
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21 | WHEREAS, With the many research projects in Illinois which | ||||||
22 | contributed to the development of the public Internet by 1995, | ||||||
23 | the University of Illinois extension and other parties created |
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1 | pioneering online community development tools available in | ||||||
2 | every county by 1998, and, beginning in 2000, worked with the | ||||||
3 | USDA-supported Rural Partners, Illinois Rural Health | ||||||
4 | Association, Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs, the office | ||||||
5 | of the Lt. Governor under several administrations, and provider | ||||||
6 | and consumer organizations, to host annual Rural | ||||||
7 | Telecommunication and Health Conferences, initially bringing | ||||||
8 | together rural parties and then adding parties from | ||||||
9 | metropolitan Chicago in strong networks linking Internet | ||||||
10 | infrastructure, services, and policy; and
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11 | WHEREAS, In 1999 and 2000, the Illinois General Assembly | ||||||
12 | adopted the Illinois Century Network law, linking schools, | ||||||
13 | libraries, and other public institutions with Internet | ||||||
14 | services, and the Eliminate the Digital Divide Law to provide | ||||||
15 | digital literacy services through community technology centers | ||||||
16 | in low income communities throughout the State; now, the | ||||||
17 | Illinois Century Network serves 9000 schools, libraries, and | ||||||
18 | community anchor institutions, and plays a role as a major | ||||||
19 | "middle mile" fiber provider across the State; from 2002 to | ||||||
20 | 2005, the statewide Illinois Community Technology Consortium | ||||||
21 | project (funded with $1.3 million in community investment | ||||||
22 | proceeds from Ameritech-SBC merger and matched by $2.7 million | ||||||
23 | in federal, community foundation, State, and local grants and | ||||||
24 | in-kind contributions), worked with institutions and circuit | ||||||
25 | riders in all regions of Illinois, with assistance from UI |
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1 | Extension in evaluation, professional development, and | ||||||
2 | network-building; and
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3 | WHEREAS, From these efforts, in 2004 the University of | ||||||
4 | Illinois Urban and Regional Planning department created a | ||||||
5 | policy report for Illinois Online, which became the basis for | ||||||
6 | the creation of the Illinois Broadband Deployment Council in | ||||||
7 | 2005, and with a newly appointed Broadband Deployment Council, | ||||||
8 | launched in 2010; and
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9 | WHEREAS, In 2007, the Illinois General Assembly adopted the | ||||||
10 | High Speed Internet Act which led to the creation of the | ||||||
11 | Illinois public-private partnership for broadband data, | ||||||
12 | infrastructure access, and extension of broadband adoption and | ||||||
13 | use; and
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14 | WHEREAS, In 2007, the Federal Communications Commission | ||||||
15 | began its Pilot Rural Health Care Program to link rural | ||||||
16 | hospitals, clinics, and providers through high speed Internet, | ||||||
17 | primarily fiber and fixed wireless, and the Illinois Rural | ||||||
18 | Health Net was awarded $21 million for 3 years of activity, | ||||||
19 | which began after the Illinois General Assembly, in January | ||||||
20 | 2009, provided matching funds, along with funding electronic | ||||||
21 | health record pilot programs in all regions of Illinois; and
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22 | WHEREAS, In 2008, the Rural Utilities Service, through the |
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1 | federal Farm Bill and the 2009 American Recovery and | ||||||
2 | Reinvestment Act, took on major responsibilities to bring high | ||||||
3 | speed Internet, or broadband Internet, infrastructure, and | ||||||
4 | services to rural areas, in cooperation with the United States | ||||||
5 | Department of Commerce's National Telecommunication and | ||||||
6 | Information Administration; and
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7 | WHEREAS, In 2009 and 2010, Illinois institutions, | ||||||
8 | companies, municipalities, and nonprofit organizations | ||||||
9 | received about $250 million in Federal USDA and Department of | ||||||
10 | Commerce infrastructure and services multi-year awards, | ||||||
11 | matched by broadband funds authorized by the Illinois General | ||||||
12 | Assembly capital bill, and coordinated through a series of | ||||||
13 | Regional Broadband Summits in Naperville, Chicago, Carbondale, | ||||||
14 | and Champaign; and
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15 | WHEREAS, In 2011, Illinois budget constraints presented | ||||||
16 | challenges to future financial support for some Internet | ||||||
17 | extension programs, including Internet infrastructure and | ||||||
18 | service programs after the completion of federal funding in | ||||||
19 | 2013, and the need to provide for Illinois Eliminate the | ||||||
20 | Digital Divide digital literacy programs; public-private | ||||||
21 | cooperation has been pledged to develop multi-year structures | ||||||
22 | and commitments for sustainability of these programs, | ||||||
23 | including through networks developed and strengthened by the | ||||||
24 | Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, |
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1 | Illinois land grant institutions, State universities, | ||||||
2 | community colleges, and community anchor institution networks | ||||||
3 | in each of the 48 community college areas; and
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4 | WHEREAS, In fall 2011, the Federal Communications | ||||||
5 | Commission launched the Universal Service Reform Program to | ||||||
6 | integrate the provision of regular telephone service with | ||||||
7 | Internet service in all states, with the greatest impact on | ||||||
8 | rural areas that have opportunities to benefit from combined | ||||||
9 | world-class telephone and Internet service through | ||||||
10 | public-private cooperation; and
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11 | WHEREAS, Investments in Internet infrastructure and | ||||||
12 | services programs have been demonstrated to bring a 10 times | ||||||
13 | return-on-investment in economic activity, and to serve as | ||||||
14 | crucial anchors for Illinois research, development, and job | ||||||
15 | creation in technology firms supported by digital skills | ||||||
16 | programs at all levels; and
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17 | WHEREAS, The United States Postal Service cites the need | ||||||
18 | for Internet connectivity to increase from today's 65-70% | ||||||
19 | statewide (with many communities with less than 50% | ||||||
20 | connectivity) to 85-95% for the United States to remain | ||||||
21 | competitive in the world, and development organizations cite | ||||||
22 | the need for fiber and advanced fixed wireless facilities | ||||||
23 | providing from 100 megabit to 1 gigabit and higher service in |
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1 | the next 5 years in order to retain and attract job-creating | ||||||
2 | development; and
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3 | WHEREAS, On September 10-15, 2012, almost 90,000 | ||||||
4 | participants will convene at Chicago's McCormick Place for the | ||||||
5 | biannual International Manufacturing Technology Show, | ||||||
6 | including 9,000 students and educators at the Student Summit | ||||||
7 | (Chicago's largest trade show), and many public officials and | ||||||
8 | technology students and educators, as well as equipment | ||||||
9 | manufacturers from across the State will be attending; | ||||||
10 | therefore, be it
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11 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
12 | NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
13 | we celebrate and commemorate, during 2012, the pioneering | ||||||
14 | activities of Illinois institutions, companies, and agencies, | ||||||
15 | particularly Land Grant-based research-teaching-extension | ||||||
16 | universities, State universities, and community colleges to | ||||||
17 | achieve Universal Internet Extension in Illinois; and be it | ||||||
18 | further
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19 | RESOLVED, That we work with the University of Illinois, the | ||||||
20 | Illinois Department of Economic Opportunity, and related | ||||||
21 | parties for Illinois and local elected officials to participate | ||||||
22 | in appropriate research and extension celebrations of the | ||||||
23 | Morrill Land Grant Act Sesquicentennial events, including |
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1 | showcasing groundbreaking events for economic development, and | ||||||
2 | events at county fairs and the Illinois State Fair; and be it | ||||||
3 | further
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4 | RESOLVED, That we work with Illinois schools, libraries, | ||||||
5 | and community institutions to instill understanding of the | ||||||
6 | importance of Digital Age beginning-to-advanced technology | ||||||
7 | skills at all levels, including spreading regular information | ||||||
8 | about opportunities for students, families, and educators from | ||||||
9 | all regions of Illinois to work, including in local | ||||||
10 | presentations by public officials; and be it further
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11 | RESOLVED, That we work to develop Illinois Broadband | ||||||
12 | Awareness Programs with Partnership for a Connected Illinois | ||||||
13 | and Community Anchor Institution networks in each library | ||||||
14 | district, municipality, and county, watershed and community | ||||||
15 | college districts, with regional planning bodies, and with | ||||||
16 | Internet extension and economic development teams to highlight | ||||||
17 | the benefits of broadband Internet skills and connectivity to | ||||||
18 | positively impact the lives of families, businesses, and | ||||||
19 | communities in meeting the 7 National Needs for Broadband | ||||||
20 | (Health, Economic Opportunity, Education, Energy & | ||||||
21 | Environment, Government Performance, Civic Engagement, and | ||||||
22 | Public Safety) developed in the Federal Communications | ||||||
23 | Commission's National Broadband Plan of 2010; and be it further
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1 | RESOLVED, That we request the appropriate Illinois House | ||||||
2 | and Senate committees to work with their respective higher | ||||||
3 | education, education, telecommunications, economic | ||||||
4 | development, and healthcare committees, and with the Governor | ||||||
5 | and all Constitutional officers, to plan for such Morrill Act | ||||||
6 | Sesquicentennial commemoration and celebration events in | ||||||
7 | Illinois and elsewhere.
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