Full Text of SR1857 99th General Assembly
SR1857 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, Senator Kirk W. Dillard stepped down from his seat | 3 | | representing the 24th District, ending a prolific and | 4 | | successful legislative
career in which he served the people of | 5 | | Illinois with
distinction and honor; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard has always felt it was a true | 7 | | privilege to serve the people of Illinois and has done so his | 8 | | entire adult life; before being elected to the Illinois Senate, | 9 | | he began his career as a legislative intern for the Senate | 10 | | Republican Staff; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard served with distinction as Chief of | 12 | | Staff for Governor Jim Edgar, as a Legislative Director for | 13 | | Governor James Thompson, and as a judge on the Court of Claims; | 14 | | and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard was first elected to the Illinois
| 16 | | State Senate in 1995 and began a remarkable and effective | 17 | | 20-year legislative
career; and | 18 | | WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard served honorably as the Republican | 19 | | Co-Chairman and Spokesman for the Senate Judiciary Committee | 20 | | and as a member of the Senate Transportation, Energy, Executive | 21 | | Appointments, and Veterans Affairs Committees; and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard was Chairman of the Local Government | 2 | | Committee and the Republican Spokesman on the Rules Committee, | 3 | | and he served on the Licensed Activities Committee; and | 4 | | WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard chaired the Senate High Technology | 5 | | Task Force, which led to the creation of the Illinois Century | 6 | | Network, linking vast information sources, including schools, | 7 | | libraries, universities, museums, and laboratories, such as | 8 | | the Argonne National Laboratory in Darien; and | 9 | | WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard worked to improve infrastructure in
| 10 | | the suburbs; he spearheaded numerous projects through the | 11 | | legislative process and watched them become reality; and | 12 | | WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard worked to assist the Village of | 13 | | Downers Grove on the completion of the Belmont Road underpass; | 14 | | and | 15 | | WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard was instrumental in the rebuilding of | 16 | | the Chicago Avenue/Naperville Road project through Clarendon | 17 | | Hills and Westmont and was a contributing factor in developing | 18 | | the new Oak Street Bridge project in Hinsdale; and | 19 | | WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard worked diligently to clean up | 20 | | contaminated drinking water in unincorporated Lisle, |
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| 1 | | Woodridge, and Downers Grove and to fund flood mitigation | 2 | | projects for Salt Creek; and | 3 | | WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard is most proud of the work he did to | 4 | | help create the Giant Steps Autism School in Lisle and in | 5 | | securing funding for the Woodridge-based Respite House to help | 6 | | medically fragile children; and | 7 | | WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard sponsored the law allowing the | 8 | | construction of the Museum of Contemporary Art, enhancing | 9 | | Chicago's Gold Coast and Streeterville neighborhoods; and | 10 | | WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard has been the chief sponsor of many | 11 | | landmark pieces of legislation, including a law banning sex | 12 | | offenders from practicing medicine in Illinois; and | 13 | | WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard sponsored a bill to create the AMBER | 14 | | Alert Program for missing children; and | 15 | | WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard sponsored the Secretary of State's | 16 | | railroad safety initiative, resulting in a significant drop in | 17 | | fatalities; and | 18 | | WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard sponsored a law to create statewide | 19 | | grand juries for gunrunning and made the discharge of a firearm | 20 | | from a moving motor vehicle a felony; and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Following the September 11 terrorist acts, Sen. | 2 | | Dillard sponsored a law to return the Pledge of Allegiance to | 3 | | Illinois high schools after a 30-year absence; and | 4 | | WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard was the chief sponsor of the Attorney | 5 | | General's Safe To Learn legislation, which insured the safety | 6 | | of children in school buildings; and | 7 | | WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard helped create thousands of jobs in | 8 | | Illinois by shepherding legislation to expand McCormick Place | 9 | | and Navy Pier, and he sponsored the incentives to lure the | 10 | | Boeing Company headquarters to Chicago; and | 11 | | WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard sponsored the senior citizens tax | 12 | | deferral program to help elderly homeowners remain in their | 13 | | homes with dignity, and he sponsored legislation to require | 14 | | parental notice of abortion and parental notice for body | 15 | | piercing on minors; and | 16 | | WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard sponsored the bill creating the | 17 | | ever-popular "Pet Friendly" license plate law; and | 18 | | WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard sponsored many laws to increase | 19 | | transparency and accountability in government, sponsoring, | 20 | | with then-State Senator Barack Obama, the first ethics and |
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| 1 | | campaign finance reforms in 25 years; legislation to address | 2 | | racial profiling by law enforcement personnel, and an overhaul | 3 | | of Illinois's death penalty laws; and | 4 | | WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard was the chief sponsor of the law to | 5 | | create the Illinois Internet Portal to disclose online every | 6 | | salary, contract, tax break, and tax deadbeat; and | 7 | | WHEREAS, Over the years, Sen. Dillard sponsored | 8 | | truth-in-sentencing legislation to make sure violent felons | 9 | | serve their full sentence; he also sponsored a law requiring | 10 | | mandatory DNA testing for all felons, a law abolishing the | 11 | | much-maligned General Assembly legislative scholarship | 12 | | program, and a law reforming McCormick Place work rules; and | 13 | | WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard worked tirelessly rewriting the | 14 | | archaic Criminal Code of 1961 with Senate President John | 15 | | Cullerton; and | 16 | | WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard sponsored laws related to tort reform | 17 | | to ensure access to health care in Illinois, especially for | 18 | | women; and | 19 | | WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard is a respected legislator and is
| 20 | | considered to be the consummate statesman by both chambers and | 21 | | both parties; he
was voted Outstanding Legislator by both the |
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| 1 | | nation's private
bi-partisan and Republican lawmakers | 2 | | associations, and he won the
National Federation of Independent | 3 | | Business Guardian of
Small Business Award and the Illinois | 4 | | Chamber Champion of Free
Enterprise award multiple times; he | 5 | | received the Illinois Press
Association's legislative service | 6 | | award, and he received the Legislator of
the Year Award from | 7 | | the Illinois State Crime Commission; he was
selected for the | 8 | | Legislative Staff Hall of Fame by Illinois
Issues magazine, in | 9 | | conjunction with the University of Illinois; he was named a | 10 | | Friend of Agriculture by the Illinois Farm Bureau, and he was | 11 | | listed in the Who's Who in Chicago Business by Crain's Chicago | 12 | | Business magazine;
while he was president of the Western | 13 | | Illinois University Alumni Association, the association won | 14 | | the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) | 15 | | award as the nation's finest among peer State institutions; and | 16 | | WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard has always believed that taxpayers | 17 | | should be treated like trusted business customers, with a smile | 18 | | and respect; and
| 19 | | WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard's colleagues note that he should now | 20 | | have more time to spend with his wife, Stephanie, and | 21 | | daughters, Emma and Ava, and an opportunity to reacclimate | 22 | | himself to the game of golf, as well as watching Chicago's 2 | 23 | | baseball teams; and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard is a graduate of Hinsdale Central | 2 | | High School, where his father taught for more than 40 years, | 3 | | and is a member of that school's Hall of Fame; Sen. Dillard | 4 | | earned, with honors, a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, | 5 | | Economics, and a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Western | 6 | | Illinois University and a Juris Doctor from the DePaul | 7 | | University College of Law; and | 8 | | WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard looks to continued success as a | 9 | | partner with Locke Lord, one of Chicago's largest law firms, | 10 | | which he has been associated with since 1987; and | 11 | | WHEREAS, Sen. Dillard has served as president of the | 12 | | award-winning Western Illinois University Alumni Association, | 13 | | as a member of the Dean's Council of the DePaul University | 14 | | College of Law, and as a foundation board member of the College | 15 | | of DuPage, raising scholarship funds for deserving students; | 16 | | and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, Following his departure from the General
| 18 | | Assembly, Sen. Dillard has begun work as Chairman of the | 19 | | Regional Transportation Authority, which oversees the nation's
| 20 | | second largest mass transit system with over 2,000,000 riders | 21 | | daily; therefore, be it
| 22 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL |
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| 1 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we thank Senator Kirk | 2 | | W. Dillard for serving the people of the State of Illinois with | 3 | | distinction and acknowledge that both parties will truly miss | 4 | | his experience and leadership; and be it further
| 5 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
| 6 | | presented to Sen. Dillard as an expression of our esteem and
| 7 | | respect.
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