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1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION
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2 | | WHEREAS, Illinois State Senator Michael Frerichs has |
3 | | represented the citizens of the State of
Illinois and the |
4 | | families of the 52nd Senate District since 2007; and
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5 | | WHEREAS, Senator Frerichs grew up in Gifford, a small |
6 | | farming community in Champaign
County; and
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7 | | WHEREAS, Senator Frerichs graduated from Rantoul Township |
8 | | High School and Yale
University; and |
9 | | WHEREAS, Senator Frerichs moved to Taiwan and studied |
10 | | Chinese at the National Cheng Kung
University while teaching |
11 | | English; and |
12 | | WHEREAS, Senator Frerichs taught at Rantoul Township High |
13 | | School while serving his community as a
volunteer firefighter; |
14 | | he also served on the board of a local non-profit nursing home |
15 | | and was an active
member of the Rotary Club of Urbana; and |
16 | | WHEREAS, Senator Frerichs was twice elected to the |
17 | | Champaign County Board, where he fought against
wasteful |
18 | | spending and was recognized for his independent voice; and |
19 | | WHEREAS, Senator Frerichs served as the Champaign County |
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1 | | Auditor, where he established a
reputation as a financial |
2 | | watchdog, receiving awards for his transparent financial |
3 | | reporting; and |
4 | | WHEREAS, Senator Frerichs has been an innovative leader in |
5 | | the Illinois Senate, highlighted
by his passage of the 2007 law |
6 | | authorizing stem cell research in Illinois, further elevating |
7 | | the State as a national leader in promoting critical medical |
8 | | research to alleviate medical conditions such as
Parkinson's |
9 | | Disease, juvenile diabetes, and different forms of cancer; and |
10 | | WHEREAS, Senator Frerichs is a strong advocate for |
11 | | government transparency and has worked to
end "pay to play" |
12 | | politics in State government; and |
13 | | WHEREAS, Senator Frerichs voted to impeach former Governor |
14 | | Blagojevich and made a motion to
disqualify him from ever |
15 | | holding public office in Illinois again; and |
16 | | WHEREAS, Senator Frerichs led efforts to abolish the |
17 | | General Assembly tuition waiver
program due to the struggles |
18 | | Illinois colleges and universities faced as well as abuses of |
19 | | the
program; and |
20 | | WHEREAS, Senator Frerichs has the distinct honor of |
21 | | representing the University of Illinois as
the Higher Education |
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1 | | Committee Chairman; he passed an innovative law to jump start |
2 | | Illinois' "Pay it
forward, Pay it Back" pilot tuition program |
3 | | to make college affordable for Illinois residents regardless
of |
4 | | their financial situation; and |
5 | | WHEREAS, Senator Frerichs knows the importance of the |
6 | | agriculture industry in Illinois; growing
up in a small farming |
7 | | town gave him a solid foundation as the Chairman of the |
8 | | Agriculture
Committee to reflect on and support agriculture |
9 | | policies for farmers across Illinois; his efforts were |
10 | | recognized in 2008, 2010, 2012, and 2014 by the Illinois Farm |
11 | | Bureau by being awarded the
Friend of Agriculture Award; he |
12 | | also was awarded the 2010 Legislative Award for his outstanding |
13 | | service to the swine industry by the Illinois Pork
Producers |
14 | | Association; and |
15 | | WHEREAS, Senator Frerichs fought to help his hometown of |
16 | | Gifford after the November
2013 tornadoes; he led the charge to |
17 | | introduce legislation to help business owners recover from
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18 | | natural disasters in Illinois by providing them with property |
19 | | tax relief and working closely with
State agencies to secure |
20 | | close to $1 million to help rebuild and repair the Village of |
21 | | Gifford and
Compromise Township; he will continue to work with |
22 | | local stakeholders to ensure the residents
of Gifford are given |
23 | | the necessary resources to be successful in their efforts; and |
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1 | | WHEREAS, Senator Frerichs understands the importance of |
2 | | advocating for a strong local
economy and has been an advocate |
3 | | of promoting job creation across Illinois in a number of
ways, |
4 | | including his leadership as co-chair of the bipartisan Senate |
5 | | Special Committee on
Enterprise Zone Extensions that has |
6 | | traveled the State to gather input on proposed legislation to
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7 | | modernize and extend the Enterprise Zone Program; in |
8 | | recognition of his efforts, the Illinois
Enterprise Zone |
9 | | Association presented Senator Frerichs with the 2012 |
10 | | Legislative Achievement
Award; and |
11 | | WHEREAS, Senator Frerichs understands our returning heroes |
12 | | have risked their lives for our nation and we should do what we |
13 | | can to recognize them for their service; in 2008, he passed a
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14 | | law to allow Vietnam veterans to receive their high school |
15 | | diplomas, which helped many
Vietnam Veterans who were drafted |
16 | | before they could finish high school; and |
17 | | WHEREAS, Senator Frerichs worked for years to pass fracking |
18 | | legislation that would protect the
environment and allow us to |
19 | | take advantage of various economic opportunities by |
20 | | implementing
the toughest fracking regulations in the nation; |
21 | | to honor his work and service to the environment
the Illinois |
22 | | Environmental Council (IEC) presented Senator Frerichs with |
23 | | the IEC's Environmental Leadership Award; and |
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1 | | WHEREAS, Senator Frerichs has worked for years to give |
2 | | legal voters every opportunity
possible to go out and practice |
3 | | their civic duty; he sponsored a law to require election
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4 | | authorities to conduct grace period registration, grace period |
5 | | voting, and early voting at public
universities, colleges and |
6 | | community colleges in Illinois to make voting more accessible |
7 | | to
college students who wish to vote, but are unable to do so |
8 | | due to lack of transportation or busy school
schedules; and
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9 | | WHEREAS, Senator Frerichs, as the co-chairman of the |
10 | | bipartisan Commission on
Government Forecasting and |
11 | | Accountability (COGFA), helped resolve a dispute over the
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12 | | bidding process for State employee health insurance contracts |
13 | | and continues to serve as a voice
for downstate employees |
14 | | worried about their benefits; and
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15 | | WHEREAS, Senator Frerichs is the first Democrat from |
16 | | Champaign County elected to any
Statewide constitutional |
17 | | office; and
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18 | | WHEREAS, Senator Frerichs is the father of his loving and |
19 | | wonderful daughter Ella Frerichs; he
will be dearly missed by |
20 | | all in this chamber; therefore, be it
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21 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL |
22 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we thank State Senator |