Bill Text: IL SR1386 | 2021-2022 | 102nd General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Mourns the death of Senator Scott Bennett.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2023-01-10 - Resolution Adopted [SR1386 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2021-SR1386-Introduced.html

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SENATE RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate of the 102nd
General Assembly of the State of Illinois learned with great
sadness of the death of their colleague and friend, Senator
Scott Michael Bennett, on December 9, 2022; and
WHEREAS, Sen. Bennett was born on July 16, 1977 to Dr.
Robert and Barbara Bennett in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where
his father was stationed in the U.S. Army; when he was an
infant, the family moved to Gibson City, where five
generations of his family have worked on their family farm,
which is something he cherished; he graduated from Gibson
City-Melvin-Sibley High School in 1995 and then studied
History at Illinois State University, graduating in 1998; he
then attended law school at the University of Illinois
Urbana-Champaign, graduating in 2002; and
WHEREAS, Sen. Bennett joined the Senate in 2015 as the
unanimous choice to fill the vacancy created when Michael W.
Frerichs was sworn in as the Illinois State Treasurer after
serving the 52nd District for eight years; and
WHEREAS, Sen. Bennett dedicated his life to public service
and giving back to his community; he first earned an
internship at the White House, where he served the Clinton

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Administration in the Office of Presidential Gifts and met his
wife, Stacy Meredith, who had been assigned to the same
office; they entertained one another with imagined back
stories of curious global and domestic gifts; and
WHEREAS, Sen. Bennett started his career as a prosecutor
for the City of Chicago and also worked for the Democratic
National Committee in Washington, D.C.; and
WHEREAS, Though Sen. Bennett could have pursued a
high-paying career in corporate law, he longed to return to
his roots and the community he treasured; he returned to
central Illinois to work as an assistant state's attorney in
Bloomington-Normal and then in Champaign-Urbana; and
WHEREAS, The first piece of legislation Sen. Bennett filed
was to protect central Illinois' water supply by preserving
the quality of drinking water in the Mahomet Aquifer, which
serves as the primary water supply for 15 counties across
central Illinois, including Champaign and Vermilion counties;
he believed that the aquifer served as a lifeline for the
region and made it his mission to protect this important
resource for the sake of the region's children and future
generations to come; he continuously worked with a bipartisan
coalition of legislators to add safeguards to protect this
valuable resource; and

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WHEREAS, Sen. Bennett leaned on his experience in the
courtroom to champion legislation to permit courts to allow
comfort canines in courtrooms to assist children or people
with intellectual disabilities who have to testify in court on
sexual assault cases; he believed that the use of dogs in the
courtroom can help bring a major change in how we can meet the
emotional needs of those involved in the criminal justice
system; and
WHEREAS, Sen. Bennett partnered with Treasurer Frerichs to
establish the Illinois Achieving Better Life Expectancy Act,
known as the ABLE Act, to promote financial security for
children and loved ones living with disabilities; the goal of
the program is to assist individuals and families in saving
money to cover expenses for people with disabilities; and
WHEREAS, During the budget impasse in 2015, Sen. Bennett
and his family filed paperwork to forgo his pay until there was
a budget in place to protect essential programs in Illinois;
the Bennett family stood in solidarity with the hard working
men and women in their community who provided essential
services to our most vulnerable populations, and they believed
it was unjust for elected officials to continue to take home
their pay while in-home child care providers struggled to keep
their doors open and seniors were forced to choose between

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picking up their prescriptions or keeping their lights on at
night; he did not accept a paycheck for more than six months;
and
WHEREAS, Sen. Bennett fought to provide Illinois' students
with the opportunity to be successful as the chair of the
Senate's Higher Education Committee for the last two years; he
worked to secure resources for the University of Illinois
Urbana-Champaign, Parkland College, Danville Community
College, and all of the State's higher education facilities by
advocating for additional funding for need-based tuition
assistance, lowering tuition costs and fees, and preventing
licensing boards from denying and revoking or suspending
individual professional licenses due to student loan default
in Illinois; and
WHEREAS, Sen. Bennett introduced the Know Before You Owe
Private Education Loan Act, which requires private lenders to
confirm with a potential borrower's school that the student's
tuition, housing, and other costs are not covered by other
sources of financial aid to ensure students and their families
have clear information when weighing their loan options; and
WHEREAS, Sen. Bennett worked to combat campus sexual
violence and championed the Preventing Sexual Violence on
Campus Act, which provided a road map to existing federal

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requirements and set standards to prevent and respond to
sexual violence; his goal was to end campus assault, but if an
assault occurred, he wanted to ensure that there were clear
and concise guidelines to give survivors of sexual assault a
comprehensive path to report crimes and be notified of their
rights; and
WHEREAS, Sen. Bennett worked to increase civic
participation and engage more citizens in the democratic
process by supporting automatic voter registration and routine
voter registration drives; he also worked to encourage more
young people to be involved in government through mentorship
and internship opportunities for college and high school
students, through regular visits to local schools to educate
students on different methods to voice their concerns and
provide input on the vital matters that impact our
communities, and by always being willing to have candid
conversations with college clubs and groups or young people
who contacted his office; and
WHEREAS, Sen. Bennett's love for his family farm shined
through the active role he played as the chair of the
Agriculture Committee for two years; he even sought a
commercial driver's license so he could haul grain in a
semi-truck to the area grain elevator from his family's
centennial farm during harvest; he could be found returning

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calls, participating in weekly team meeting calls, negotiating
legislation, and much more in the name of service to the
constituents of the 52nd District while waiting for the truck
to be loaded; and
WHEREAS, Sen. Bennett recognized the stressors placed on
farmers and farm families and partnered with SIU School of
Medicine's Center for Rural Health and Social Services
Development and the Illinois Department of Agriculture to
introduce a hotline to connect farmers to health professionals
and services for additional support through the Farm Family
Resource Initiative; and
WHEREAS, Sen. Bennett partnered with former Illinois
Department of Agriculture Director John Sullivan to address
the issue of farm chemical runoff polluting Illinois waterways
because he believed the State needed to make significant water
quality improvement to protect our quality of life for
generations to come; and
WHEREAS, To help alleviate the shortage of agriculture
science educators, Sen. Bennett championed an initiative to
create a hands-on agriculture teacher training program in
Illinois high schools for those interested in studying to
teach agriculture; he believed that creating a pre-service
teacher training program to give prospective agriculture

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students the fundamentals they need to succeed will help to
ensure that the next generation of family farmers will keep
the industry strong for years to come; he later received the
Jim Guilinger Legislative Award from the Illinois Leadership
Council for Agricultural Education for his support of
agricultural education and Future Farmers of America student
programs; and
WHEREAS, Sen. Bennett's experience in the courtroom gave
the Senate a unique and cherished perspective that he utilized
as the chair of the Criminal Law Committee for two years; he
emphasized the importance he placed on providing minors who
experienced the most egregious crimes against them with the
tools to seek justice when they are ready by removing the
statute of limitations for certain sex crimes against minors;
he believed that survivors of these horrific crimes should not
be forced to seek justice before they are ready to do so; and
WHEREAS, Sen. Bennett worked with State agencies and local
leaders to acquire a Child's Advocacy Center in Vermilion
County to provide minors with a comforting, kid-friendly
environment; prior to that, Vermilion County had been one of
only four counties in the State that did not have one; he
valued the opportunity to serve as the vice-president of the
board of directors for the facility; and

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WHEREAS, Sen. Bennett believed in the spirit of
bipartisanship and worked on legislation with his uncle, State
Representative Tom Bennett, to ensure that materials on SIDS
prevention provided to parents include information from the
American Academy of Pediatrics or a statewide or nationally
recognized SIDS or medical association; he made it his goal to
find at least one piece of legislation that he could work on
with Rep. Bennett every General Assembly; and
WHEREAS, Sen. Bennett never forgot the importance of our
nation's veterans and worked with now retired State
Representative Chad Hays to rededicate a lost grave marker
that was discovered to belong to Clyde E. Maham, a World War I
veteran who was buried at Maplewood Cemetery in Rantoul; he
believed that whether a veteran's sacrifices were made during
World War I or are currently being made across the globe, it is
important to honor the dedication and sacrifices the veterans
have made to our great nation; and
WHEREAS, To support women in Illinois, Sen. Bennett voted
to institute a federal constitutional provision that expressly
guarantees equal rights to women and men by championing Senate
Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 4, which would have
ratified the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the United States
Constitution; he believed ratifying the ERA is not merely
symbolic or only a woman's issue and that it is a necessary

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measure for Illinois to take to guarantee equality under the
law for both men and women; and
WHEREAS, Sen. Bennett believed in protecting women's
reproductive health care and bodily autonomy since these are
the most basic and fundamental human rights; he supported a
number of measures to ensure Illinois has laws on the books to
protect the health and well-being of women in Illinois; and
WHEREAS, Sen. Bennett worked diligently to prevent
groundwater contaminated at Illinois coal ash dump sites by
championing a bipartisan initiative with area legislators; he
believed that Illinois cannot afford to stand by while toxic
waste threatens our State's valuable water resources
indefinitely; during the passage of the legislation, he coined
the term Team Coal Ash to commemorate the friendships formed
during the tough negotiations and distributed coal stress
balls to the team after the bill's passage; he later received
the Illinois Environmental Councils' Milestone Achievement
Award and the Prairie Rivers Network's Outstanding Public
Servant Award for his efforts in passing historic coal ash
regulations into law that year; and
WHEREAS, Sen. Bennett worked with his colleagues to
provide Illinois workers with a living wage; he believed that
employees deserve a fair wage that respects the work they do in

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the service to our community and that Illinois' hardest
workers should be compensated with a wage that allows them to
live their lives with dignity, fairness, and stability; and
WHEREAS, After years of work, Sen. Bennett was able to
secure a Danville casino to help spur growth in the region and
create good-paying jobs for Vermilion County residents; he was
looking forward to the ribbon cutting of the casino and
witnessing the economic impact it would have on Danville; and
WHEREAS, During the unfortunate COVID-19 pandemic, Sen.
Bennett worked to keep constituents safe by educating people
on the dangers of exposure, supporting and providing
information about local food pantries and State resources
available to assist, reading evening bedtime stories as a
celebrity reader, assisting constituents in securing
unemployment benefits, distributing personal protective
equipment to first responders, supporting local business
owners, and encouraging residents to wear masks and get
vaccinated once they were made available; and
WHEREAS, To improve transparency around prescription drug
costs, Sen. Bennett pushed a bill requiring pharmacies to post
a notice informing consumers that they may request current
pharmacy retail prices at the point of sale to ensure that the
drug industry is held accountable and that residents receive

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the pricing information they deserve to make informed
decisions; and
WHEREAS, Sen. Bennett worked diligently to support
downstate schools across central Illinois by ensuring that
there was a bipartisan funding formula in place that supported
all of our State's children; he helped institute a funding
formula that guarantees that the quality of a child's
education will not be based on their ZIP code and funds schools
the right way to help lower property tax bills; and
WHEREAS, To raise awareness and help improve mental health
among young adults and middle school students, Sen. Bennett
sponsored legislation that requires school districts to
provide contact information for the National Suicide
Prevention Lifeline and the Crisis Text Line on student
identification cards to ensure this resource is available to
help students who may be struggling; he believed printing this
information on student ID cards meant the hotline number is
always close at hand and, more importantly, can be used as a
lifeline for children and their families; and
WHEREAS, Sen. Bennett worked with law enforcement and his
colleagues in the House and Senate to pass legislation to
improve the criminal justice system by passing a package of
bills that were aimed at keeping law enforcement officials

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safe by creating grant opportunities and instituting ways to
recruit, hire, and retain the best of our law enforcement
officers to keep communities safe; and
WHEREAS, Most recently, Sen. Bennett served as a central
figure in recent SAFE-T Act changes; he understood the
importance of presuming innocence for individuals before being
proven guilty, supporting police, and keeping violent
criminals out of our neighborhoods; his goal remained to
ensure that the Illinois' pretrial system is equitable and
that everyone is treated equally regardless of their financial
status; he believed it was pertinent to bring together a
diverse group of individuals to create a comprehensive plan
that maintains the intent of the Pretrial Fairness Act while
ensuring our court systems have the tools they need to serve
their communities; he was proud of the efforts to improve the
consistency within the law; and
WHEREAS, During his time in office, Sen. Bennett
appreciated the honor of participating in the annual Wreaths
Across America ceremony at Danville National Cemetery because
he believed in the importance of the community coming together
to celebrate the lives of our fallen soldiers; at this year's
ceremony and going forward, the organization pledged to lay a
wreath to memorialize him, and he is the only non-veteran to
receive this great honor; and

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WHEREAS, Sen. Bennett secured over $25.9 million for
cities and municipalities in his district to upgrade community
parks, restore historical landmarks, improve local roads, and
create accessibility to buildings; he consistently advocated
for all of his district, including securing over 60 projects
for schools, foundations, cities, not-for-profits, parks,
libraries, and many others; and
WHEREAS, The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
the State's flagship university, is located in what was Sen.
Bennett's district; while in office, he secured more than $50
million in additional spending for the University of Illinois,
including an additional $500 million for the Discovery
Partners Institute, which is an economic incubator for the
State; and
WHEREAS, Sen. Bennett served on a number of boards and
task forces, including the Mahomet Aquifer Task Force, the
Illinois Supreme Court's Pretrial Practices Commission,
Governor JB Pritzker's Growing Our Agricultural Economy
Committee, the Access to Voting for Persons with Disabilities
Advisory Task Force, the Commission on Equitable Public
University Funding, the Midwestern Higher Education
Commission, and the State Procurement Task Force; and

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WHEREAS, Sen. Bennett hosted a number of annual collection
drives to benefit the Vermilion County community; one such
event was his community dictionary drive to benefit Danville
Area Community College's Department of Corrections program,
which rehabilitates incarcerated men participating in
prison-based education programs; he also hosted warm sock
drives to boost supplies at local shelters during the cold
winter months; and
WHEREAS, Sen. Bennett was always ready to help and support
community organizations and address shortages and constituent
needs; he hosted blood drives and collected canned foods to
help food pantries, cell phones to help survivors of domestic
violence and to help military personnel, cards for seniors and
veterans during the COVID-19 pandemic, winter hygiene product
drives for local soup kitchens, and donations for Ukrainian
families in Westville, among other needs; and
WHEREAS, Sen. Bennett loved when school groups, interns,
or constituents would stop by his office in Springfield; he
cherished the opportunity to provide visitors with an in-depth
tour of the State Capitol, whose deep history he loved; those
fortunate enough to receive this tour would often learn new
historical facts and tidbits and hear his latest stories; and
WHEREAS, As a former staff member himself, Sen. Bennett

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was often found at the back of the Senate chamber taking the
time to get to know staff members and sharing funny anecdotes;
he always valued the time and energy staff put into their work
and treated his staff as family; he would make a special effort
to look for ways to show his appreciation; he was beloved by
staff and will be greatly missed by them; and
WHEREAS, Sen. Bennett hosted summer book club programs for
children in the community, had a steady rotation of college
and high school interns, and regularly visited area schools
and college classes to engage more students in the State's
legislative process because he genuinely believed that the
State's children could become great leaders in our State and
nation; he adored hearing from or about former interns and
staff members who achieved their career and education goals;
and
WHEREAS, During his tenure as a legislator, Sen. Bennett
partnered with area organizations to sponsor expungement and
record-sealing summits to provide full-service assistance to
Champaign residents with application, preparation, and filing
for adult and juvenile criminal record expungement and sealing
along with other relief because he wanted to give people the
opportunity to be successful; and
WHEREAS, Sen. Bennett was a fierce advocate and was well

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known by all for his humor and wit, which was an innate talent
he used as a tool to heal and unite by putting his audience at
ease and creating space for connection; he treasured
relationships, from his constituents and colleagues to his
family and friends, and all knew that no matter the
relationship he genuinely cared; and
WHEREAS, Sen. Bennett's absence has left a big Scott
Bennett-sized hole in our hearts forever; we can honor him by
taking the time to find common ground, being kind to our
neighbors, and doing our best to leave the world a brighter and
more compassionate place; and
WHEREAS, Sen. Bennett prioritized service above self and
deeply cared for the 52nd State Senate District; however, his
greatest love was for his family, his wife of 20 years, Stacy,
and his children, Sam and Emma, who served as his rock and
heart in every action he took; he would often forgo staying in
Springfield after long session days to go home and be near his
family; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Stacy Bennett, who honored Sen. Bennett's
legacy by completing the remainder of his term in the 102nd
General Assembly, served as his sounding board, his political
strategist, and the love of his life; she helped him stay
grounded and provided him with support to help him better

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represent the diverse needs of the residents of the 52nd
District; therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL
ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of
Senator Scott Bennett, our friend and colleague, who served
the people of the State of Illinois with honor and distinction
and exemplified the highest standards; and be it further
RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
presented to the family of Sen. Bennett as an expression of our
sincerest condolences for the loss of their loved one and our
friend.