SLS 15RS-596 ORIGINAL
2015 Regular Session
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 150
BY SENATORS ALARIO, ADLEY, ALLAIN, AMEDEE, APPEL, BROOME, BROWN,
BUFFINGTON, CHABERT, CLAITOR, CORTEZ, CROWE,
DONAHUE, DORSEY-COLOMB, ERDEY, GALLOT, GUILLORY,
HEITMEIER, JOHNS, KOSTELKA, LAFLEUR, LONG, MARTINY,
MILLS, MORRELL, MORRISH, MURRAY, PEACOCK, PERRY,
PETERSON, RISER, GARY SMITH, JOHN SMITH, TARVER,
THOMPSON, WALSWORTH, WARD AND WHITE
COMMENDATIONS. Commends Senator Ben Nevers of Bogalusa on his years of
distinguished public service.
1 A RESOLUTION
2 To commend the Honorable Ben Wayne Nevers Sr. for two decades of legislative and local
3 public service and to express enduring gratitude for his outstanding contributions
4 made on the behalf of the constituents of the parishes of St. Tammany, Tangipahoa,
5 and Washington and the state of Louisiana, particularly his tenure as a distinguished
6 member of the Louisiana State Senate representing District No. 12 and the Louisiana
7 House of Representatives representing District No. 75 for a total of seventeen years
8 as a legislator, and to offer the best wishes of his fellow senators as he returns to the
9 private sector and determines his next avenue of interest.
10 WHEREAS, Senator Nevers is well known as a kind, caring servant of the people
11 who has demonstrated a personal commitment to representing his constituents with honor
12 and respect and to the best of his abilities as a Christian with a profound faith in God; and
13 WHEREAS, Senator Nevers has always acted on the tenet of "do the right thing" as
14 he addresses the complex issues affecting the district, including education, economic
15 development, workforce training, health care, infrastructure, and farming interests; and
16 WHEREAS, in each situation, his approach is to dispatch the matter in the most
17 direct, yet courteous manner possible; he never sidestepped an issue; he focuses on the
18 problem at hand and considers every possible solution with respect to the consequences
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1 affecting all parties in the process; and
2 WHEREAS, during his tenure, Senator Nevers served with great diligence on Senate
3 standing committees on Judiciary A and Labor and Industrial Relations as chairman and
4 Education as chair and vice chairman, and as a member on Health and Welfare, Agriculture,
5 Retirement, Revenue and Fiscal Affairs, and Transportation, Highways, and Public Works,
6 and the Senate Select Committee on Vocational and Technical Education; and
7 WHEREAS, the fiscal matters of the state held his attention with his monitoring of
8 the Joint Legislative Committee on Capital Outlay and Legislative Audit Advisory Council;
9 and
10 WHEREAS, Ben Nevers lauds a lofty principle from Thomas Jefferson that states,
11 "An educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people," and he
12 recognizes that an educated populace ensures both economic success and individual
13 prosperity; and
14 WHEREAS, his dedication to improve educational opportunities on all levels began
15 as an elected member of the Bogalusa City School Board and continued as he served on the
16 Senate Education Committee; he lent his expertise to numerous state committees and
17 commissions on civic education, tuition, high school redesign, early childhood education,
18 textbooks, libraries, assessment testing, and the Blue Ribbon Commission for Education
19 Excellence; and he cast a broad net to garner research from national coalitions such as the
20 Education Commission of the States, the Southern Legislative Conference, the American
21 Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) Education Task Force, and the Southern Regional
22 Education Board Advisory Council; and
23 WHEREAS, early in life, Senator Nevers trained as a journeyman electrician and
24 became president and CEO of NECO Inc., his own successful contracting firm; his life
25 experience has reenforced his concept of job training for local commercial ventures and state
26 industrial employment demands; and
27 WHEREAS, Senator Nevers promoted job training through articulation of workforce
28 development curricula at community and technical colleges, enabling course credits to be
29 easily transferred between institutions to aid successful completion of craft certification; and
30 WHEREAS, Senate District No. 12 is primarily a rural setting of farming interests
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1 that produce a cornucopia of agricultural products; Senator Nevers addresses the needs of
2 the dairy and forestry industries in the Washington Parish Forestry Landowners Association
3 and both the Washington Parish and Louisiana Cattlemen's Associations, and supports
4 agribusiness education through involvement with 4-H Clubs, the Future Farmers of America,
5 and the Louisiana Northshore (Parishes) Delegation; and
6 WHEREAS, Senator Nevers has been the deserving recipient of copious honors
7 throughout the course of his exemplary career that are too numerous to count; he has been
8 celebrated for his professional, civic, legislative, and business achievements year after year;
9 some of his latest awards include the Mondale-Brooke Award for Fair Housing Leadership
10 and Civic Participation, the Louisiana Association for Justice Public Service Award, the
11 Optometry Association of Louisiana Statesman of the Year Award, an Honorary State FFA
12 Degree from the Louisiana Future Farmers of America, and the establishment and dedication
13 of the Senator Ben Nevers Medical Library for Our Lady of the Angels Hospital in Bogalusa
14 in appreciation of his continued support of rural health care funding; and
15 WHEREAS, Senator Nevers has a very special place in his heart for the medically
16 needy, the elderly, and the very young of this state who depend on the viable funding of rural
17 health care facilities; he has been a champion for small hospitals around the state; and
18 WHEREAS, with his commitment to Louisianians through efforts to improve
19 employment opportunity, education, economic growth, transportation infrastructure, and
20 health care, the good works of Senator Ben Nevers will be realized for future generations to
21 come; and
22 WHEREAS, he has long preached that education is a public good from which
23 everyone reaps benefits, and providing adequate funding starting with early childhood
24 education and continuing to postsecondary training is the real key to guaranteed success in
25 life; and
26 WHEREAS, as he prepares for the next productive chapter of his life, Ben Nevers
27 and his wife, Ann, celebrate forty-nine years together, three children, six grandchildren, and
28 two great-grandchildren; they share their happiness in the company of close friends,
29 colleagues, and their church family at Memorial Baptist Church; and the Nevers family shall
30 continue to have a positive effect on their community for many years to come; and
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1 WHEREAS, Senator Ben Nevers deserves commendation for the exemplary strides
2 he has taken as an exceptional member of the Legislature of Louisiana, and he has proven
3 himself to those he represents to be "a true man of the people".
4 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
5 does hereby commend the Honorable Ben Wayne Nevers Sr., extending honor and
6 recognition to him for his outstanding accomplishments, particularly during his tenure as a
7 member of the Louisiana State Senate and the Louisiana House of Representatives, which
8 has been marked by his uncompromising endeavors to improve the welfare of his
9 constituents and the citizens of the state of Louisiana, and does hereby pay tribute to him for
10 the generous and effective way in which he has dedicated his intelligence and his energy to
11 the service of his faith, family, friends, community, state, and country.
12 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
13 hereby expresses enduring gratitude to Senator Nevers for his service to the citizens of
14 Louisiana, as evidenced by his superlative achievements as a member of this distinguished
15 body, and hereby extends to him the best wishes of all of his colleagues for continued
16 prosperity and success in his future endeavors.
17 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
18 Honorable Ben W. Nevers Sr. of Louisiana Senatorial District 12.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Susan P. Montague.
DIGEST
SR 150 Original 2015 Regular Session Alario
Commends Senator Ben Nevers for his many years of distinguished public service.
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