Bill Text: IL SR0754 | 2019-2020 | 101st General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Thanks State Senator Toi Hutchinson for her service to the people of Illinois.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 9-2)
Status: (Passed) 2019-10-30 - Resolution Adopted [SR0754 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2019-SR0754-Introduced.html
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1 | SENATE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, Toi W. Hutchinson began her career in the Illinois | ||||||
3 | Senate in 2009 and has proudly and admirably represented the | ||||||
4 | families of Cook, Grundy, Kankakee, and Will Counties, an area | ||||||
5 | often cited as a microcosm of Illinois as a whole due to its | ||||||
6 | racial, geographic, and economic diversity; and
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7 | WHEREAS, Born in Tennessee, Senator Hutchinson and her | ||||||
8 | family moved to Chicago's south suburbs, where, as a child, she | ||||||
9 | attended Infant Jesus of Prague School in Flossmoor and Rich | ||||||
10 | Central High School in Olympia Fields; and
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11 | WHEREAS, Senator Hutchinson earned a bachelor's degree in | ||||||
12 | English from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and | ||||||
13 | a law degree from Northern Illinois University College of Law; | ||||||
14 | she graduated from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government | ||||||
15 | Executive Management Program and is a 2012 Edgar Fellow of the | ||||||
16 | Illinois Institute of Government and Public Affairs; and
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17 | WHEREAS, Senator Hutchinson entered public service in | ||||||
18 | 2002, when she began two terms as Village Clerk of Olympia | ||||||
19 | Fields; she was appointed to the Illinois State Senate in | ||||||
20 | January of 2009; and
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21 | WHEREAS, As Chair of the Senate Revenue Committee, Senator |
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1 | Hutchinson often found herself at the center of some of the | ||||||
2 | most pressing fiscal and economic issues facing Illinois; and
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3 | WHEREAS, In her role as Chair, Senator Hutchinson led in | ||||||
4 | the passage of a difficult but necessary income tax increase | ||||||
5 | that stabilized Illinois' finances after years of devastating | ||||||
6 | budget woes, passed legislation increasing the Earned Income | ||||||
7 | Tax Credit (EITC) and the standard tax exemption, allowing | ||||||
8 | working families to keep more of their hard-earned money, and | ||||||
9 | worked to close corporate tax loopholes to ensure large | ||||||
10 | corporations paid their fair share in taxes; and
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11 | WHEREAS, During her time in the Senate, Senator Hutchinson | ||||||
12 | passed numerous new laws aimed at protecting women, children, | ||||||
13 | seniors, and Illinoisans with disabilities, including leading | ||||||
14 | the effort to safeguard pregnant women in the workplace from | ||||||
15 | discrimination; and
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16 | WHEREAS, Senator Hutchinson teamed with former Attorney | ||||||
17 | General Lisa Madigan to make Illinois the first state that | ||||||
18 | mandates all rape kits be tested within ten days and worked on | ||||||
19 | numerous measures ensuring victims of sex trafficking and | ||||||
20 | stalking have the resources they need to recover and return to | ||||||
21 | society; and
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22 | WHEREAS, Senator Hutchinson led a crackdown on the culture |
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1 | of sexual harassment in state government, passing legislation | ||||||
2 | to require members of the General Assembly, as well as | ||||||
3 | legislative staff and lobbyists, to participate in sexual | ||||||
4 | harassment awareness training; and
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5 | WHEREAS, Senator Hutchinson recognized the importance of | ||||||
6 | transportation development for the communities she served and | ||||||
7 | passed a law creating the Southeast Commuter Rail Transit | ||||||
8 | District, which will eventually construct a new Metra line | ||||||
9 | connecting eleven South Suburban communities with downtown | ||||||
10 | Chicago, as well as creating the first public-private financing | ||||||
11 | agreement in Illinois; and
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12 | WHEREAS, As a proud mother of public school students | ||||||
13 | concerned about the increasing number of students, especially | ||||||
14 | African American boys, who receive severe disciplinary action | ||||||
15 | that keeps them out of the classroom, Senator Hutchinson passed | ||||||
16 | a law to study the problem and work with school districts to | ||||||
17 | reduce expulsions and suspensions; and
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18 | WHEREAS, One of Senator Hutchinson's hardest and most | ||||||
19 | high-profile successes while in the Senate was working with her | ||||||
20 | colleagues on the passage of cannabis legalization legislation | ||||||
21 | that prioritizes social equity, which complemented Senator | ||||||
22 | Hutchinson's legislation allowing a legal cannabis business to | ||||||
23 | use the banking system in Illinois and the creation of the |
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1 | Industrial Hemp Act, allowing farmers in Illinois to cultivate | ||||||
2 | and process industrial hemp; and
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3 | WHEREAS, A fierce proponent of a tax system that allows | ||||||
4 | working families to thrive, Senator Hutchinson passed | ||||||
5 | legislation to create a graduated rate structure for Illinois' | ||||||
6 | income tax system, with lower-income families paying less while | ||||||
7 | wealthier individuals would pay more; specifically, | ||||||
8 | Illinoisans making less than $250,000 per year, which | ||||||
9 | represents 97 percent of taxpayers, would pay the same or less | ||||||
10 | in income taxes; and
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11 | WHEREAS, Senator Hutchinson passed legislation increasing | ||||||
12 | stability and funding for Illinois families who rely on the | ||||||
13 | Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) by extending the | ||||||
14 | redetermination period for eligibility from six months to 12 | ||||||
15 | months and passed legislation protecting CCAP recipients by | ||||||
16 | removing the executive branch's ability to unilaterally reduce | ||||||
17 | eligibility through stringent requirements; and
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18 | WHEREAS, Senator Hutchinson recently ended her one-year | ||||||
19 | leadership of the National Conference of State Legislature | ||||||
20 | (NCSL), a bipartisan non-governmental organization that serves | ||||||
21 | thousands of state lawmakers and staffers, during which | ||||||
22 | Hutchinson traveled across the globe, connected with leaders | ||||||
23 | from all walks of life, and shared with them the information |
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1 | and resources to better serve the common good; and
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2 | WHEREAS, Throughout her tenure in the Illinois Senate, | ||||||
3 | Senator Hutchinson's leadership and dedication earned her a | ||||||
4 | number of accolades; in 2011, she received the Governors State | ||||||
5 | University Annuitants Association Award "in appreciation of | ||||||
6 | her leadership and advocacy on behalf of her constituents"; in | ||||||
7 | 2013, she earned the Moxie Award from the Illinois Coalition | ||||||
8 | Against Sexual Assault; in 2014, she earned the Champion Award | ||||||
9 | from the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Assault; in 2016, she | ||||||
10 | received the Legislative Champion Award from the Illinois State | ||||||
11 | Alliance of YMCAs, and in 2018, she received one of Governing | ||||||
12 | Magazine's Public Officials of the Year Awards; and
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13 | WHEREAS, Upon her retirement from the Illinois General | ||||||
14 | Assembly, Senator Hutchinson will continue to advance the | ||||||
15 | values of justice and equity as the Cannabis Regulation | ||||||
16 | Oversight Officer for the State of Illinois; and
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17 | WHEREAS, Senator Hutchinson's most cherished role is being | ||||||
18 | a wife to her husband Paul and a mother to her three children, | ||||||
19 | Paul Jr., Camryn, and Ryan; therefore, be it
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20 | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL | ||||||
21 | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we thank State Senator | ||||||
22 | Toi Hutchinson for her service to the people of Illinois and |
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1 | honor her with this resolution; and be it further
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2 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
3 | presented to Senator Hutchinson with our best wishes for all | ||||||
4 | her future endeavors.
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