Bill Text: MI SCR0020 | 2021-2022 | 101st Legislature | Engrossed
Bill Title: A concurrent resolution of tribute offered as a memorial for John A. "Jack" Welborn, former member of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Passed) 2021-10-14 - Referred To Secretary For Record [SCR0020 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2021-SCR0020-Engrossed.html
senate concurrent resolution no. 20
Senator Shirkey offered the following concurrent resolution:
Whereas, It is with great sadness that the members of the Michigan Legislature learned of the passing of Jack Welborn. He served his constituents and the people of the entire state with great conviction and dedication during his time in the House and Senate; and
Whereas, Jack Welborn brought a wide range of public and private sector experience with him to Lansing. He spent two years in the Naval Reserve and, over the course of his life, was a dairy farmer, insurance agent, and volunteer firefighter. In 1966, Jack Welborn started his public service career when he was elected Cooper Township Supervisor. He also served as chairman of the Kalamazoo County Board of Supervisors, on the Gull Lake School Board, and as Kalamazoo Soil Conservation District Director; and
Whereas, Jack Welborn arrived in Lansing in 1973 to represent the people of Kalamazoo County in the Forty-seventh House District. When the area's Senate seat became vacant the following year, the voters of the Twenty-first Senate District – encompassing parts of Cass, Kalamazoo, St. Joseph, and Van Buren counties - sent Jack Welborn across the Capitol in the summer of 1974, where he remained until 1982 when he ran for Governor. Following the death of his brother, who represented the Thirteenth Senate District, Jack Welborn signed up to serve the people of Barry, Ionia, Kalamazoo, and Montcalm counties as their senator in a 1985 special election. Those voters would elect him twice more, in 1986 and 1990; and
Whereas, While serving in the Legislature, Jack Welborn championed smaller government, deregulation, lower taxes, and pro-life causes. Despite his strongly held conservative views on many issues, he was able to find common ground with his colleagues across the aisle, championing bipartisan criminal justice and corrections reform while chairing Senate committees on those issues. He also supported issues back home, including saving the historic Kalamazoo Psychiatric Hospital Water Tower from demolition. Jack Welborn served on many committees in both chambers, including serving as chair of Senate committees on criminal justice and law, family law, corrections, urban affairs, and economic development and the Senate Select Committee on Export and Trade; serving as vice chair of Joint Committee on Administrative Rules; and being a member of Commerce; Regulatory Affairs; Appropriations and Retirement, including many subcommittees; Labor and Retirement; Municipalities and Elections; Finance; Constitutional Revision and Women's Rights; Taxation; Tourist Industry Relations; and Youth and Student Participation. He introduced dozens of bills every session to push for measures important to his constituents, with a particular focus on mental health and issues affecting children; and
Whereas, After leaving Lansing in 1994, Jack Welborn returned to his family's homestead farm where he grew up and opened an antique shop with his wife. He enjoyed time in his workshop and with his grandchildren during his retirement; and
Whereas, Jack Welborn was a committed and hardworking legislator who cherished his family. Upon his passing, we offer our condolences to his family and friends. We hope that they may find comfort in the knowledge that the community and state share in their bereavement and that the legacy of Jack Welborn's contributions will long continue to enrich our state; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), That we offer this expression of our highest tribute to honor the memory of John A. "Jack" Welborn, a member of the House of Representatives from 1973 to 1974 and a member of the Senate from 1974 to 1982 and 1985 to 1994; and be it further
Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the Welborn family as evidence of our lasting esteem for his memory.
