Bill Text: IL HJR0027 | 2015-2016 | 99th General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Creates the Illinois Task Force on Agent Orange to investigate and form recommendations on how best to communicate with veterans afflicted with Agent Orange concerning the treatment options available to them.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 20-8)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2016-11-09 - Referred to Assignments [HJR0027 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2015-HJR0027-Introduced.html
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| 1 | HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, From 1961 to 1972, the United States military | ||||||
| 3 | conducted a large-scale defoliation program
aimed at | ||||||
| 4 | destroying the forest and jungle cover used by enemy North | ||||||
| 5 | Vietnamese and Viet
Cong troops fighting against U.S. and South | ||||||
| 6 | Vietnamese forces in the Vietnam War; and
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| 7 | WHEREAS, The most commonly used, and most effective, | ||||||
| 8 | mixture of herbicides was Agent
Orange, named for the orange | ||||||
| 9 | stripe painted on the 55-gallon drums in which the mixture was
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| 10 | stored; and
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| 11 | WHEREAS, Questions regarding Agent Orange arose in the | ||||||
| 12 | United States after an increasing
number of returning Vietnam | ||||||
| 13 | veterans and their families began to report a range of | ||||||
| 14 | afflictions,
including rashes and other skin irritations, | ||||||
| 15 | miscarriages, psychological symptoms, Type-2
diabetes, birth | ||||||
| 16 | defects in children, and cancers such as Hodgkin's disease, | ||||||
| 17 | prostate cancer, and
leukemia; and
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| 18 | WHEREAS, Some 400,000 people were killed or maimed as a | ||||||
| 19 | result of exposure to herbicides like
Agent Orange; and
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| 20 | WHEREAS, In 1991, President George H.W. Bush signed into | ||||||
| 21 | law the Agent Orange Act, which
mandated that some diseases | ||||||
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| 1 | associated with defoliants (including non-Hodgkin's lymphomas,
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| 2 | soft tissue sarcomas, and chloracne) be treated as the result | ||||||
| 3 | of wartime service and helped
codify the Veterans | ||||||
| 4 | Administration's response to veterans with conditions related | ||||||
| 5 | to their exposure to Agent Orange; and
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| 6 | WHEREAS, The federal VA's Agent Orange Registry Health Exam | ||||||
| 7 | alerts veterans to possible long-term
health problems that may | ||||||
| 8 | be related to Agent Orange exposure during their military
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| 9 | service, and the registry data helps the VA understand and | ||||||
| 10 | respond to these health problems more
effectively; and
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| 11 | WHEREAS, This free comprehensive health exam includes an | ||||||
| 12 | exposure history, medical history,
physical exam, and any tests | ||||||
| 13 | if needed while requiring no copayment; therefore, be it
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| 14 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
| 15 | NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE | ||||||
| 16 | SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that there is created the Illinois | ||||||
| 17 | Task Force on Agent Orange to investigate and form | ||||||
| 18 | recommendations on how best to communicate with veterans | ||||||
| 19 | affected by Agent Orange concerning the treatment options | ||||||
| 20 | available to them; and be it further
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| 21 | RESOLVED, The Task Force shall consist of 9 members as
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| 22 | follows: (1) one member appointed by The Speaker of the House | ||||||
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| 1 | of Representatives;
(2) one member appointed by the Minority | ||||||
| 2 | Leader of the House of Representatives;
(3) one member | ||||||
| 3 | appointed by the President of the Senate;
(4) one member | ||||||
| 4 | appointed by the Senate Minority leader;
(5) the Director of | ||||||
| 5 | the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs, who shall act as | ||||||
| 6 | the Chair;
(6) one Veterans' Service Officer from the | ||||||
| 7 | Department of Veterans' Affairs, appointed by the
Director of | ||||||
| 8 | Veterans' Affairs;
(7) one representative from the Department | ||||||
| 9 | of Public Health, appointed by the Director of Public
Health;
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| 10 | (8) one representative from the Secretary of State's Office, | ||||||
| 11 | appointed by the Secretary of State; and
(9) one representative | ||||||
| 12 | of local county health departments in Illinois appointed by the | ||||||
| 13 | Director of
Public Health; and be it further
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| 14 | RESOLVED, The Task Force shall meet periodically at the | ||||||
| 15 | discretion of the Chair; and be it further
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| 16 | RESOLVED, That the Department of Veterans' Affairs shall | ||||||
| 17 | provide administrative and other
support to the Task Force; and | ||||||
| 18 | be it further
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| 19 | RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall present a report of its | ||||||
| 20 | findings,
which shall include its recommendations for | ||||||
| 21 | legislation, if any, to the Illinois House
of Representatives | ||||||
| 22 | and the Senate on or before January 1, 2016.
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