Illinois 2023-2024 Regular Session

Illinois House Bill HR0817 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

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3	3	1 HOUSE RESOLUTION
4	4	2 WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
5	5	3 Representatives wish to congratulate the Honorable Michael
6	6	4 Christopher Fountain, Honorary Consul of the Consulate of the
7	7	5 Commonwealth of The Bahamas in Chicago for the Midwestern
8	8	6 United States, on the occasion of his decade of continued
9	9	7 service; and
10	10	8 WHEREAS, Consul Fountain, a Chicagoan from Chicago's West
11	11	9 Side, possesses patrilineal descent to The Bahamas dating back
12	12	10 to 1847 as a descendant of William Fountain; and
13	13	11 WHEREAS, Consul Fountain was accredited by the U.S.
14	14	12 Department of State as the first Honorary Consul of the
15	15	13 Commonwealth of The Bahamas in Chicago for the Midwestern
16	16	14 United States on March 6, 2014, becoming the second honorary
17	17	15 consul of The Bahamas to ever be assigned and accredited by the
18	18	16 United States; he opened the first Consulate of the
19	19	17 Commonwealth of The Bahamas in Chicago on September 5, 2014;
20	20	18 and
21	21	19 WHEREAS, Consul Fountain has conducted public diplomacy
22	22	20 work to protect the interests of Bahamian nationals in the
23	23	21 United States and to promote and engage interested parties in
24	24	22 the specific matters of tourism, investment, trade, art,
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33	33	1 economic development, culture, science, agriculture, public
34	34	2 safety, and the import and export of goods and services within
35	35	3 his jurisdiction of the Midwestern United States, which
36	36	4 includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri,
37	37	5 Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin; and
38	38	6 WHEREAS, To further bilateral relationship opportunities
39	39	7 between nations, Consul Fountain has engaged the
40	40	8 administrations of the 41st, 42nd, and 43rd Governors of the
41	41	9 State of Illinois, the 69th and 70th Speakers of the Illinois
42	42	10 House of Representatives, the 38th and 39th Presidents of the
43	43	11 Illinois Senate, and the 55th, 56th, and 57th Mayors of
44	44	12 Chicago, and he has hosted The Bahamas' Minister of Foreign
45	45	13 Affairs, its Parliamentary Secretary, its Ambassador and Head
46	46	14 of Mission to the United States, its Deputy Chief of Mission to
47	47	15 the United States, three consul generals of The Bahamas, and
48	48	16 general manager of the Broadcast Corporation of The Bahamas
49	49	17 for engagements in Illinois; and
50	50	18 WHEREAS, To deepen the diplomatic engagement between the
51	51	19 State of Illinois and the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, Consul
52	52	20 Fountain has overseen numerous activities, including raising
53	53	21 the first flag of The Bahamas over Illinois soil in
54	54	22 acknowledgment of the first sanctioned Sister City
55	55	23 relationship between Cat Island, Bahamas and Richton Park,
56	56	24 Illinois and in celebration of the 43rd anniversary of
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67	67	1 Bahamian Independence on July 8, 2016, the first flag of The
68	68	2 Bahamas at Chicago O'Hare International Airport in celebration
69	69	3 of the 44th anniversary of Bahamian Independence on July 7,
70	70	4 2017, and the first flag within Chicago city limits in
71	71	5 celebration of the 48th anniversary of Bahamian Independence
72	72	6 on July 9, 2021; he also organized and sponsored the first
73	73	7 State visit of a sitting Prime Minister of The Bahamas to
74	74	8 Chicago from September 10 to September 11, 2023, during which
75	75	9 he facilitated the opportunity for Prime Minister Wendall K.
76	76	10 Jones to speak at the City Club of Chicago; and
77	77	11 WHEREAS, As a diplomatic representative of The Bahamas,
78	78	12 Consul Fountain has also provided numerous support services to
79	79	13 countless Bahamians in need of assistance, and he has
80	80	14 previously led multistate awareness and relief efforts for
81	81	15 Bahamians affected by Hurricanes Joaquin, Irma, Matthew, and
82	82	16 Dorian; and
83	83	17 WHEREAS, Consul Fountain has served with distinction as a
84	84	18 member of the Board of Chancellors for the Consular Corps
85	85	19 College, an association of foreign consuls in the United
86	86	20 States based in Washington, D.C., and he is a member of the
87	87	21 Chicago Consular Corps; and
88	88	22 WHEREAS, As the longest-serving diplomatic representative
89	89	23 of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas in the United States of
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100	100	1 America, Consul Fountain now celebrates a decade of diplomacy,
101	101	2 representing Bahamians in the Diaspora, within his
102	102	3 jurisdiction of the Midwestern United States and the larger
103	103	4 United States of America; therefore, be it
104	104	5 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
105	105	6 HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
106	106	7 we congratulate the Honorable Michael Christopher Fountain,
107	107	8 Honorary Consul of the Consulate of the Commonwealth of The
108	108	9 Bahamas in Chicago for the Midwestern United States, on
109	109	10 serving as a crucial link to the bilateral relationship
110	110	11 between The Bahamas and the United States for over a decade,
111	111	12 and we wish him continued success while conducting his
112	112	13 consular duties; and be it further
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