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SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, Senator Kirk W. Dillard stepped down from his seat
3representing the 24th District, ending a prolific and
4successful legislative career in which he served the people of
5Illinois with distinction and honor; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard has always felt it was a true
7privilege to serve the people of Illinois and has done so his
8entire adult life; before being elected to the Illinois Senate,
9he began his career as a legislative intern for the Senate
10Republican Staff; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard served with distinction as Chief of
12Staff for Governor Jim Edgar, as a Legislative Director for
13Governor James Thompson, and as a judge on the Court of Claims;
14and
 
15    WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard was first elected to the Illinois
16State Senate in 1995 and began a remarkable and effective
1720-year legislative career; and
 
18    WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard served honorably as the Republican
19Co-Chairman and Spokesman for the Senate Judiciary Committee
20and as a member of the Senate Transportation, Energy, Executive
21Appointments, and Veterans Affairs Committees; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard was Chairman of the Local Government
2Committee and the Republican Spokesman on the Rules Committee,
3and he served on the Licensed Activities Committee; and
 
4    WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard chaired the Senate High Technology
5Task Force, which led to the creation of the Illinois Century
6Network, linking vast information sources, including schools,
7libraries, universities, museums, and laboratories, such as
8the Argonne National Laboratory in Darien; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard worked to improve infrastructure in
10the suburbs; he spearheaded numerous projects through the
11legislative process and watched them become reality; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard worked to assist the Village of
13Downers Grove on the completion of the Belmont Road underpass;
14and
 
15    WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard was instrumental in the rebuilding of
16the Chicago Avenue/Naperville Road project through Clarendon
17Hills and Westmont and was a contributing factor in developing
18the new Oak Street Bridge project in Hinsdale; and
 
19    WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard worked diligently to clean up
20contaminated drinking water in unincorporated Lisle,

 

 

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1Woodridge, and Downers Grove and to fund flood mitigation
2projects for Salt Creek; and
 
3    WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard is most proud of the work he did to
4help create the Giant Steps Autism School in Lisle and in
5securing funding for the Woodridge-based Respite House to help
6medically fragile children; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard sponsored the law allowing the
8construction of the Museum of Contemporary Art, enhancing
9Chicago's Gold Coast and Streeterville neighborhoods; and
 
10    WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard has been the chief sponsor of many
11landmark pieces of legislation, including a law banning sex
12offenders from practicing medicine in Illinois; and
 
13    WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard sponsored a bill to create the AMBER
14Alert Program for missing children; and
 
15    WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard sponsored the Secretary of State's
16railroad safety initiative, resulting in a significant drop in
17fatalities; and
 
18    WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard sponsored a law to create statewide
19grand juries for gunrunning and made the discharge of a firearm
20from a moving motor vehicle a felony; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Following the September 11 terrorist acts, Sen.
2Dillard sponsored a law to return the Pledge of Allegiance to
3Illinois high schools after a 30-year absence; and
 
4    WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard was the chief sponsor of the Attorney
5General's Safe To Learn legislation, which insured the safety
6of children in school buildings; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard helped create thousands of jobs in
8Illinois by shepherding legislation to expand McCormick Place
9and Navy Pier, and he sponsored the incentives to lure the
10Boeing Company headquarters to Chicago; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard sponsored the senior citizens tax
12deferral program to help elderly homeowners remain in their
13homes with dignity, and he sponsored legislation to require
14parental notice of abortion and parental notice for body
15piercing on minors; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard sponsored the bill creating the
17ever-popular "Pet Friendly" license plate law; and
 
18    WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard sponsored many laws to increase
19transparency and accountability in government, sponsoring,
20with then-State Senator Barack Obama, the first ethics and

 

 

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1campaign finance reforms in 25 years; legislation to address
2racial profiling by law enforcement personnel, and an overhaul
3of Illinois's death penalty laws; and
 
4    WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard was the chief sponsor of the law to
5create the Illinois Internet Portal to disclose online every
6salary, contract, tax break, and tax deadbeat; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Over the years, Sen. Dillard sponsored
8truth-in-sentencing legislation to make sure violent felons
9serve their full sentence; he also sponsored a law requiring
10mandatory DNA testing for all felons, a law abolishing the
11much-maligned General Assembly legislative scholarship
12program, and a law reforming McCormick Place work rules; and
 
13    WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard worked tirelessly rewriting the
14archaic Criminal Code of 1961 with Senate President John
15Cullerton; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard sponsored laws related to tort reform
17to ensure access to health care in Illinois, especially for
18women; and
 
19    WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard is a respected legislator and is
20considered to be the consummate statesman by both chambers and
21both parties; he was voted Outstanding Legislator by both the

 

 

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1nation's private bi-partisan and Republican lawmakers
2associations, and he won the National Federation of Independent
3Business Guardian of Small Business Award and the Illinois
4Chamber Champion of Free Enterprise award multiple times; he
5received the Illinois Press Association's legislative service
6award, and he received the Legislator of the Year Award from
7the Illinois State Crime Commission; he was selected for the
8Legislative Staff Hall of Fame by Illinois Issues magazine, in
9conjunction with the University of Illinois; he was named a
10Friend of Agriculture by the Illinois Farm Bureau, and he was
11listed in the Who's Who in Chicago Business by Crain's Chicago
12Business magazine; while he was president of the Western
13Illinois University Alumni Association, the association won
14the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE)
15award as the nation's finest among peer State institutions; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard has always believed that taxpayers
17should be treated like trusted business customers, with a smile
18and respect; and
 
19    WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard's colleagues note that he should now
20have more time to spend with his wife, Stephanie, and
21daughters, Emma and Ava, and an opportunity to reacclimate
22himself to the game of golf, as well as watching Chicago's 2
23baseball teams; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard is a graduate of Hinsdale Central
2High School, where his father taught for more than 40 years,
3and is a member of that school's Hall of Fame; Sen. Dillard
4earned, with honors, a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science,
5Economics, and a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Western
6Illinois University and a Juris Doctor from the DePaul
7University College of Law; and
 
8    WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard looks to continued success as a
9partner with Locke Lord, one of Chicago's largest law firms,
10which he has been associated with since 1987; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard has served as president of the
12award-winning Western Illinois University Alumni Association,
13as a member of the Dean's Council of the DePaul University
14College of Law, and as a foundation board member of the College
15of DuPage, raising scholarship funds for deserving students;
16and
 
17    WHEREAS, Following his departure from the General
18Assembly, Sen. Dillard has begun work as Chairman of the
19Regional Transportation Authority, which oversees the nation's
20second largest mass transit system with over 2,000,000 riders
21daily; therefore, be it
 
22    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL

 

 

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1ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we thank Senator Kirk
2W. Dillard for serving the people of the State of Illinois with
3distinction and acknowledge that both parties will truly miss
4his experience and leadership; and be it further
 
5    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
6presented to Sen. Dillard as an expression of our esteem and
7respect.