Senate Bill 2782

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    Florida Senate - 2000        (NP)                      SR 2782

    By Senators Clary, Kirkpatrick, Lee, Geller, Casas, Scott,
    Dyer, Laurent, Carlton, Dawson, Forman, Brown-Waite, Bronson,
    Mitchell, Grant, Kurth, Sullivan, Saunders, King and Horne



    7-2043A-00

  1                    Senate Resolution No.     

  2         A resolution honoring Senator W. D. Childers.

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  4         WHEREAS, Senator Wyon Dale Childers was born in

  5  Okaloosa County, graduated from high school in Bay County and

  6  from Florida State University, and now resides in Escambia

  7  County, and

  8         WHEREAS, with his wife, Ruth, he raised four daughters,

  9  Gail, Jeanna, Karen, and Marvel; and they have been a family

10  beloved by and involved in the community, and

11         WHEREAS, Senator Childers was elected to the Florida

12  Senate in November 1970 and has demonstrated the ability to be

13  re-elected subsequently with a greater majority, and

14         WHEREAS, he served as Chairman of the Senate Natural

15  Resources and Conservation Committee during the

16  environmentally oriented period of 1972 to 1974 and became an

17  expert in the natural resources of the State of Florida, our

18  most valuable heritage, and

19         WHEREAS, Senator Childers has reconstituted his

20  environmental effort on behalf of his constituents of

21  Northwest Florida, turning over a new leaf and becoming an

22  environmentalist, and

23         WHEREAS, he served as Chairman of the Senate Commerce

24  Committee from 1974 to 1977 and now serves as Chairman of the

25  Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government, and

26         WHEREAS, he has demonstrated a keen grasp of the fiscal

27  affairs of state government and an ability to balance fairly

28  the priorities of the numerous needs and demands for

29  government services, and

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    Florida Senate - 2000        (NP)                      SR 2782
    7-2043A-00




  1         WHEREAS, he served as Chairman of the Senate Rules and

  2  Calendar Committee and proved outstanding in his even-handed

  3  and fair consideration of all members' legislation, and

  4         WHEREAS, Senator Childers was elected and served as

  5  President of the Senate from 1980-1982, and

  6         WHEREAS, he has been recognized by his Senate

  7  colleagues as Most Outstanding in Debate for his ability to

  8  relate complex issues to average men and women in their

  9  everyday lives, and

10         WHEREAS, he has passed his skills along to his

11  grandson, Bradley Springer, as demonstrated early this

12  legislative session, and

13         WHEREAS, he is the longest-serving member and the Dean

14  of the Florida Senate, respected for his wisdom, whose

15  guidance and expertise are often sought in solving state

16  problems to benefit his constituents and all of Florida, and

17         WHEREAS, Senator Childers' colorful use of the English

18  language is eclipsed only by his often-colorful attire, and

19         WHEREAS, Senator Childers is the only known person

20  outside the jungle who is able to wrestle a wooly booger to

21  the ground with one hand tied behind his back, and

22         WHEREAS, in 1993 Senator Childers met with Governor

23  Lawton Chiles, and the two men developed a plan for the State

24  of Florida to recover the moneys the state had expended as a

25  result of the illnesses caused by tobacco, and

26         WHEREAS, during the 1994 legislative session, Senator

27  Childers took the lead to unanimously pass the amendment in

28  the Senate to establish the Florida 3rd Party Medicaid

29  Recovery Act, which allowed Florida to successfully bring the

30  tobacco companies to task, and

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida Senate - 2000        (NP)                      SR 2782
    7-2043A-00




  1         WHEREAS, as a result of Senator Childers' efforts in

  2  association with Governor Chiles, this legislation has been

  3  called the most significant legislative act ever passed in

  4  regard to health care in the United States, and

  5         WHEREAS, Governor Chiles stated that this was the most

  6  significant event in his political career and will result in

  7  the State of Florida recovering 13 billion dollars and saving

  8  100,000 lives a year, and

  9         WHEREAS, the loss of Senator W.D. Childers will create

10  a void in the Florida Senate, where his sage advice and

11  counsel will be sorely missed, and the members of the Senate

12  earnestly believe that the needs of Florida and his

13  constituents would best be served by his continued service in

14  the Capitol, where he has expertise, seniority, and the

15  confidence of the members of the legislative, executive, and

16  judicial branches of state government, NOW, THEREFORE,

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18  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:

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20         That, through the Lawton & Rhea Chiles Center for

21  Healthy Mothers & Babies and the University of South Florida,

22  the Legislature intends to endow a Distinguished

23  Chair/Professorship in Maternal and Child Health: Tobacco,

24  Alcohol, and Drug Abuse Prevention in the name of Senator W.D.

25  Childers.

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