SR0937 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0937 LRB094 22085 MST 60698 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Rick Winkel has represented the citizens of east central Illinois with distinction in the General Assembly for 12 years; and

WHEREAS, He was elected to the 52nd Senate District in 2002, having served with honor in the House of Representatives from 1995 to 2002; and

WHEREAS, In the House, he served as a member on legislative committees dealing with agriculture and conservation, education, and judiciary issues; and

WHEREAS, During that time, he sponsored bills that created and provided funds for alternative schooling, reformed campaign finance, and secured a student trustee vote on the University Board of Trustees; and

WHEREAS, He helped school districts maintain a safe environment for students by sponsoring the 1995 Safe Schools Law to provide Illinois with the Regional Safe Schools Program, a system of alternative education programs for disruptive students in grades six through twelve; and

WHEREAS, He also sponsored the 2001 Alternative Opportunities Learning Program, to provide at-risk students with the education and support services needed to meet Illinois Learning Standards and to complete their education in an orderly, safe and secure environment; and

WHEREAS, Senator Winkel has been a leader in addressing education funding reform for elementary and secondary schools, and for public colleges and universities; and

WHEREAS, In 2005, he sponsored education funding reform legislation that would provide more dollars for schools, a significant reduction in local property taxes, and a more equitable source of revenue for schools at all levels; and

WHEREAS, A strong advocate for colleges and universities, Senator Winkel went to bat for universities when higher education funding was slashed by the current administration; and

WHEREAS, He and several of his Senate Republican colleagues traveled throughout the State in 2003 to meet with university officials, faculty and students to determine the effects of those deep funding cuts; and

WHEREAS, He has been proud to represent the University of Illinois and its tradition of academic, research and sports excellence; and

WHEREAS, Rick became a lawmaker to make the State of Illinois a better place to live, he brought State government from the marble halls of the Capitol to the communities and citizens of east central Illinois; and

WHEREAS, His priorities in Springfield have always been those of the people he represents; and

WHEREAS, To keep in close contact and communication with his constituents, he maintained a daunting schedule of mobile office hours in communities of all sizes throughout east central Illinois; and

WHEREAS, He sponsored legislation to give citizens more information about the effects that population growth, factories, businesses, and farms have on their water supplies; and

WHEREAS, Rick effectively argued on behalf of his constituents when the administration tried unsuccessfully in April 2004 to drop Urbana-based Health Alliance as a managed care insurance provider for State workers; and

WHEREAS, In 2005 he hosted public forums in Danville and Urbana to give public policy makers the opportunity to hear firsthand from local doctors and other medical professionals about the impact that skyrocketing medical malpractice insurance rates are having on physicians and patients in east central Illinois; and

WHEREAS, He sponsored legislation making it possible for a group of local schools to form a cooperative high school with local voter approval; and

WHEREAS, He helped create a State version of the federal AgrAbility Project, which helps older farmers and those with disabling injuries remain active and productive; and

WHEREAS, He called the agriculture community to action in 2004 to fight the Administrations plans to increase taxes on agriculture products, gut the Department of Agriculture, eliminate the C-FAR agricultural research program, and threaten funding for the horse-racing industry; and

WHEREAS, He sponsored legislation that would have reimbursed local governments and businesses for the approximately $18 million they paid in sharply increased sewer permit fees passed by the Democrat-controlled Legislature as part of the Fiscal Year 2004 budget; and

WHEREAS, In the Senate, he served as Republican Spokesman for the Senate Higher Education Committee, was a member of the Senate Education Committee, Senate Judiciary Committee, and Senate Agriculture Committee; and

WHEREAS, The Senator has received numerous awards and honors for his legislative work by groups as varied as the Illinois Farm Bureau, the Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois, the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools, National Federation of Independent Business, Champaign County Corn Growers, and other local organizations; and

WHEREAS, He was a Champaign County Board Member from 1992 to 1994; and

WHEREAS, Senator Winkel is a member of the Champaign County Chamber of Commerce, Champaign County and Vermilion County Farm Bureaus, Campaign County Illini Club, Champaign County Pheasants Forever, Grand Prairie Friends of Illinois, Kiwanis Club of Champaign-Urbana, Mahomet Aquifer Consortium, Rantoul Chamber of Commerce, St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce, Technology Entrepreneur Center, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Vermilion Advantage; and

WHEREAS, Rick Winkel was born Sept. 25, 1956, in Kankakee; and

WHEREAS, He graduated from the DePaul University College of Law and earned a Bachelors degree in economics from the University of Illinois; and

WHEREAS, He is a member of the Champaign County Bar Association and the Illinois State Bar Association; and

WHEREAS, He is Of Counsel at Meyer, Capel, P.C. in Champaign; and

WHEREAS, Rick and his wife, Debra, have two adult children, both who continue the tradition of public service; his son is an Army Staff Sergeant stationed in Fort Stewart, GA, and his daughter is a teacher at St. John's International High School in Waterloo, Belgium; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate Rick Winkel on his retirement from the Illinois General Assembly after 12 years of dedicated service; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Rick Winkel with our gratitude for his hard work, and our best wishes for his future endeavors.