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SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, State Senator Michael Bond has represented the
3citizens of the State of Illinois and the families of the 31st
4Legislative District since 2006; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Senator Michael Bond has been at the forefront of
6efforts to modernize Illinois, from improving transportation
7and mass transit systems to supporting technological advances
8in education, crime prevention, and energy production; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Michael Bond began his elected service to his
10community as a member of the Board of Education for Woodland
11District 50 Consolidated Schools, which is the largest
12elementary school district in Lake County and the 7th largest
13elementary school district in the State of Illinois; and
 
14    WHEREAS, During his tenure in the Senate, Michael Bond has
15drawn on his background as the former director of corporate
16finance for Allstate Insurance Company, where his experience
17with strategic planning, forecasting, and advanced
18demographics and mapping technologies has assisted him in
19taking a more forward-thinking and formulaic approach to
20large-scale transportation initiatives and education reform;
21and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Understanding the importance of adequate and safe
2transportation in Lake County, Senator Bond has been
3particularly involved in issues related to road construction
4and infrastructure improvements, both regionally and
5throughout the State; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Senator Bond has been a strong advocate for new
7road projects in Lake County and was an early supporter of the
8$30 billion capital construction plan that was signed into law
9in July of 2009, which was crafted to create jobs, restore the
10State's lagging economy, and, for the first time in a decade,
11provide significant dollars to rebuild Illinois' outdated
12schools, roads, bridges, and mass transit systems; and
 
13    WHEREAS, Senator Bond was selected as the Senate Chairman
14of a new statewide Strategic Infrastructure Task Force, which
15was organized to maximize the State's eligibility for
16infrastructure dollars in the federal 2009 American Recovery
17and Reinvestment Act; and
 
18    WHEREAS, Senator Bond has played an important role in
19improving transportation access in Lake County, including the
20extension of Atkinson Road in Grayslake to connect with
21Illinois Route 137, which will also feature substantial
22improvements where Route 137 intersects with Illinois Route 120
23and Illinois Route 83, respectively; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, A strong supporter of the environment and the
2local economy and understanding that the two issues can often
3work in concert, Senator Bond sponsored an initiative to assist
4the conservation efforts of the Fox Waterway by giving the Fox
5Waterway Agency the statutory authority to sell its dredging
6material as reclaimed topsoil, with the revenue to be used for
7projects designed to maintain and improve the waterway; and
 
8    WHEREAS, In an effort to make Illinois more
9energy-efficient, Senator Bond was the sponsor of legislation
10to address the amount of energy that buildings across the State
11consume by requiring the Capital Development Board, in
12conjunction with the Department of Commerce and Economic
13Opportunity, to initiate a study of building energy performance
14measures to create a simple label that indicates a building's
15energy use and to report those findings and recommendations to
16the General Assembly so that further action to improve
17efficiency and reduce consumption can be taken; and
 
18    WHEREAS, A loving father, Senator Bond sponsored
19"Jasmine's Law", which provides judges in Illinois the ability
20to use as an aggravating factor in sentencing the fact that a
21minor was offered or under the influence of alcohol at the time
22an offense was committed; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Understanding the need for greater protection for
2our families from sex offenders, Senator Bond sponsored a law
3which provided additional safeguards in the Sexually Violent
4Persons Act by allowing a local State's Attorney to petition
5for the commitment of a sexually violent person about to be
6released from prison who may still pose a threat to the
7community; and
 
8    WHEREAS, In 2009, Senator Bond was selected to chair the
9newly created Senate Telecommunications and Information
10Technology Committee, where he worked to improve services
11ranging from emergency 911 systems to public broadcast towers;
12and
 
13    WHEREAS, Senator Bond, as chairman of the Senate
14Telecommunications Committee and working in conjunction with
15the Citizens Utility Board and Attorney General Lisa Madigan,
16was the chief sponsor of a new law that protects consumers from
17telecommunications companies that post unauthorized charges on
18phone bills, a practice known as "cramming", by requiring that
19phone companies obtain a customer's consent before including
20new charges on telephone bills; and
 
21    WHEREAS, Senator Bond also sponsored measures to better
22incorporate technology in state operations, including an
23initiative to provide low-cost laptops in public schools, a

 

 

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1successful campaign to allow Metra commuter rail passengers to
2purchase train fares with credit cards, and his work to study
3the feasibility of offering high-speed Internet access on
4passenger trains; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Senator Bond also supported the creation of new
6"innovation zones" to promote economic growth in fields such as
7biotechnology, alternative fuels, and advanced computing; and
 
8    WHEREAS, Despite his many responsibilities, Senator Bond
9has been active in his community; he is a member of St.
10Joseph's Church; he has participated in many youth sports
11activities, including t-ball coaching; he has served as an
12event coordinator and sponsor of the annual youth orienteer
13event; he also serves as a volunteer at area neighborhood
14highway clean-up days as a local Sierra Club member; and
 
15    WHEREAS, Senator Bond, who holds a Bachelor of Arts from
16Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and a Master of
17Business Administration from Roosevelt University, will return
18to Grayslake where he lives with his wife, Jennifer, and their
19three children - Ethan, Georgia Kate, and Elliot; therefore, be
20it
 
21    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL
22ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we thank Michael Bond

 

 

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1for his dedicated service to the people of Illinois and honor
2him with this resolution; and be it further
 
3    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
4presented to Michael Bond with our best wishes for his future
5endeavors.