HR0054 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0054 LRB094 05041 HSS 35076 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, On October 20, 1960, Peter Gosselin Fitzgerald was born in Inverness, a suburb northwest of Chicago, where he grew up and has lived all his life; he went to St. Theresa's elementary school in Palatine and Portsmouth Abbey, a secondary school in Portsmouth, Rhode Island; he then attended Dartmouth College, where he majored in Latin and Greek; he graduated from Dartmouth Cum Laude and with "highest distinction"; in 1982 and 1983, he studied at the Aristotelian University in Salonica, Greece as a Rotary Foundation International Graduate Scholar; he earned his J.D. from the University of Michigan School of Law; he practiced corporate law for ten years in Chicago, first in private firms and later as general counsel for a publicly traded bank holding company; and

WHEREAS, From 1993 until his election to the U.S. Senate in 1998, Peter Fitzgerald was an Illinois State Senator, representing the northwest suburbs of Chicago, and serving as the chair of the State Government Operations Committee; during his time as an Illinois State Senator, his many initiatives included the community notification law for child sex offenders, PA 89-462 (HB 3670: Klingler/Fitzgerald); a law requiring teachers to teach habits of discipline and respect for others, PA 90-620 (HB 3793: Madigan/Fitzgerald); and a bill banning insurers from using domestic battery as a reason to increase charges upon any customer for property or casualty insurance, PA 90-700 (HB 2860: Parke/Fitzgerald); and

WHEREAS, On November 3, 1998, Peter G. Fitzgerald was elected to the United States Senate at age 38; he was the first Republican in Illinois to win a Senate race in 20 years and for several years he was the youngest member of the U.S. Senate; while in the U.S. Senate, he served on the Commerce, Governmental Affairs, Agriculture, Small Business, and Aging committees; he chairs the Governmental Affairs subcommittee on Financial Management, the Budget, and International Security; the Commerce subcommittee on Consumer Affairs and Product Safety; and the Agriculture subcommittee on Research, Nutrition, and General Legislation; and

WHEREAS, Having experience as a former commercial banking director and general counsel, Senator Fitzgerald has chaired or played a leading role in investigations of Enron and corporate accounting fraud, mutual fund industry abuses, chronic under-funding of employee pensions, the deteriorating condition of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, conflicts of interest in the insurance brokerage industry, high fees in 529 college savings programs, and waste, fraud, and mismanagement in various federal agencies; he has enacted several measures to improve the financial accountability of government agencies and departments by expanding audit requirements and extending the reach of the Chief Financial Officers Act; and

WHEREAS, In 2004, Senator Fitzgerald proposed comprehensive, bi-partisan mutual fund reform legislation to protect the household, college, and retirement savings of the 91,000,000 Americans who invest in mutual funds; endorsed by consumer groups and termed the "gold standard" of industry reform, Senator Fitzgerald's legislation helped prompt the Securities Exchange Commission to undertake a vigorous review of mutual fund oversight and regulation; by mid-November 2004, the SEC had promulgated final rules addressing 16 of the provisions laid out in his legislation, including provisions on director independence, fund governance, fee and compensation disclosure, and a prohibition of directed brokerage; and

WHEREAS, During his tenure in the U.S. Senate, Senator Peter Fitzgerald has built a reputation as an independent voice for Illinois; he has consistently backed efforts to control spending and reduce taxes, but at the same time voted for environmental and consumer protections; in early 2003, he passed legislation temporarily extending federal unemployment insurance benefits; furthermore, he has vigorously promoted competitive bidding in government contracts and has opposed taxpayer giveaways to politically connected interests; in 2000, he sought to impose federal competitive bidding guidelines on a large government-funded project in his own State; for two days, in a Senate speech the Champaign News Gazette called "a wake up call for Illinois taxpayers," he brought national attention to numerous instances of cronyism and corruption in Illinois State government; throughout his service in the U.S. Senate, he has steadfastly fought political corruption in both political parties; in 2001, with support from President Bush, the Senator succeeded in installing professional U.S. Attorneys, in each of Illinois' three judicial districts, who were completely independent of the State's politics; and

WHEREAS, From his perch on the Commerce Committee, Senator Fitzgerald has been active on aviation issues, with efforts to address the nation's air capacity shortage and promote greater competition in the airline industry; Senator Fitzgerald has helped lead the effort to build a south suburban Chicago airport, as first recommended by the Federal Aviation Administration in 1984; in addition, he stopped legislation which would have impeded the south suburban airport and which would have instead dictated the approval of a cost-inefficient plan to tear up and re-build O'Hare; furthermore, in 2001, he co-authored an amendment which made it difficult and unattractive for air carriers to seek the federal loan guarantees offered in the airline bailout bill; as a result of his language, few airlines applied for the loan guarantees and taxpayers saved billions of dollars; and

WHEREAS, As the first Illinois senator since 1986 to serve on the Agriculture Committee, Senator Fitzgerald has worked closely with the futures industry in Chicago to modernize the commodity trading laws and to allow the sale of futures on individual stocks; he has also worked with Illinois farm groups to open markets for Illinois commodities in the U.S. and overseas, promote renewable fuels, and to provide tax relief for family farmers; he has enacted legislation to better enable low income citizens to access their food stamp benefits, as well as legislation to require the U.S. Department of Agriculture to make its program benefits available over the Internet; the Senator has also called for reform of the federal farm payment system to ensure that federal aid goes to family farmers who most need assistance, and has helped pass legislation to study potential improvements to farm aid programs; and

WHEREAS, During his term in the U.S. Senate, Senator Fitzgerald has also focused on consumer safety issues; in 2000, he led a successful drive to modernize outdated federal testing and safety standards for child car seats; in 2002, he drafted, and President Bush signed into law, a follow-up measure, known as Anton's Law, to upgrade federal testing and standards for child booster seats and to require automakers to improve car safety features; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that Senator Fitzgerald be honored for his distinguished record of public service for the State of Illinois and all of its citizens; as a true example of a public servant, Senator Fitzgerald is recognized for fervently fighting for what is right for the taxpayers and citizens of both the great State of Illinois as well as each and every individual within this nation; furthermore, Senator Fitzgerald's honesty and integrity as a public servant were evident from his first day in the U.S. Senate, and have become the standard to which every public servant of Illinois should strive to achieve, and even though Senator Fitzgerald has removed his name from the U.S. Senate, the U.S. Senate will never be able to replace his knowledge, skill, tenacity, integrity, and the love he had for all persons in this nation, and especially for the citizens of Illinois he loyally and honorably represented; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to U.S. Senator Peter G. Fitzgerald and his family.