HR0981 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0981 LRB103 43703 ECR 77063 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives wish to honor our esteemed colleague and trailblazer, State Representative Mary E. Flowers, for her 40 years as a state representative and to thank her for her dedicated service to our State and her community; and

WHEREAS, Rep. Flowers was born in Inverness, Mississippi and moved to Chicago as a child; her family participated in the Great Migration when an estimated six million Black Americans moved from the South to urban centers in northern states for a better life and more opportunities; still, she and her family faced discrimination, and this led her towards a career of fighting for marginalized groups as a public servant; and

WHEREAS, Rep. Flowers established roots in Chicago; she attended Kennedy King Community College and the University of Illinois at Chicago; she started her career at her alma mater, serving in several different positions before becoming vice-chancellor for Academic Affairs from 1977 to 1979; she married Daniel Coutee, has one daughter, Maketa, and is also a proud grandmother; and

WHEREAS, Rep. Flowers was mentored by another trailblazer, Chicago's first Black mayor and former congressman Harold Washington; she began her political career volunteering for his campaigns, and she eventually ran to represent the 31st House District of Illinois; with Washington's endorsement, she was elected as a state representative in 1984 and began serving in 1985; and

WHEREAS, Rep. Flowers is not only Illinois' longest-serving African American lawmaker but also the longest-serving woman in the General Assembly; she formerly chaired the Healthcare Availability and Accessibility committee and the Real Estate Law committee and has been a member of a number of other committees during her career; she has received numerous awards and accolades for her legislative work, including the Legislator of the Year award from the Illinois Alcoholism and Drug Dependence Association and the Legislative Appreciation Award from the Chicago Teachers Union; she is also a former Deputy Majority Leader and former Assistant Majority Leader for the House, as well as a member of leadership for the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus; and

WHEREAS, Rep. Flowers quickly established herself as a champion for more effective and equitable healthcare in Illinois; she spent years working to address abuses by health maintenance organizations (HMO) that were denying necessary health care coverage to individuals to cut costs; in 1999, she brought together stakeholders in the health care and the insurance industries to pass major HMO reform in Illinois through the Managed Care Reform and Patient Rights Act; and

WHEREAS, Rep. Flowers has spent her career advocating for the rights of and resources for pregnant and postpartum women; in 2019, she passed an extensive legislative package to address shortcomings in the care for pregnant and postpartum patients and the maternal and infant mortality crisis; these measures ranged from creating a task force to address the infant and maternal mortality rate among African Americans to requiring insurers to cover mental health conditions that occur during pregnancy or postpartum; and

WHEREAS, Rep. Flowers spoke passionately for the needs of all children and particularly for the rights of youth in care; she introduced and passed a number of reforms to strengthen and improve the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) with a focus on the wellness and dignity of vulnerable children; and

WHEREAS, Rep. Flowers worked hard on behalf of seniors on fixed incomes and families with modest incomes, creating the Energy Assistance Act to help people afford home heating costs and supporting new resources to help older adults stay in their homes; and

WHEREAS, Rep. Flowers has made history with her 40 years of service to the State of Illinois and has carved out a legacy of fighting for marginalized groups; her commitment to her community and the people of Illinois has been clear throughout each decade of her career; she has sponsored legislation to expand healthcare access, promote equity and diversity in hiring, and tackle childhood hunger; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate Representative Mary E. Flowers on her retirement from the Illinois House of Representatives, and we offer our profound thanks for her 40 years of dedicated service to the people of Illinois; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Rep. Flowers as an expression of our esteem and respect.