Illinois Transatlantic Slave Trade Commission
Home
home / Commissioners/State Senator Donne E. Trotter /
Illinois Transatlantic Slave Trade Commission 
State Senator Donne E. Trotter was born in Cairo, Illinois, but has been a lifelong resident of the city of Chicago. He attended the University of Arizona, Chicago State University (B.A. in History and Political Science) and Loyola University School of Law in Chicago (M.J. in Health & Policy of Jurisprudence).
Senator Trotter served two terms in the Illinois House from the 25th Representative District before being elected to the Senate in the 17th District in 1992.
As the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations I Committee, Senator Trotter oversees the writing of the annual budget for the State of Illinois. He is also a member of the Senate Revenue and Appropriations II Committees and the Economic and Fiscal Commission.
This legislative session, Senator Trotter sponsored legislation (SB 880) that will allow adults to purchase sterile syringes from pharmacies without a prescription.; with State Representative Constance A. Howard passed legislation (House Bill 2391) that allows an individual to file a petition asking for his/her personal police records to be sealed; served on the task force that recommended the creation of the KidCare program; and passed the law that created the Abandoned Newborn Infant Protection Act, which allow birth parents to legally leave a newborn at a hospital, fire station or emergency medical facility.
To help Illinois' elderly pay for long-term health care, Senator Trotter introduced legislation creating the Elder Care Savings Bond Act and co-sponsored assisted living accommodations legislation (House Bill 427). Senator Trotter introduced legislation creating a prostate-screening program within the Illinois Department of Public Health and sponsored legislation creating an income tax check-off to fund research aimed at finding a cure for prostate cancer.
In addition, Senator Trotter has sponsored several bills that deal with residential and property tax relief, medical assistance, additional funding for mental health treatment and diagnosis and adequate services for the Department on Aging. In 2000, he was one of the members who effectively worked to approve a legislative tax relief package that provided more than $500 million in tax relief to working families in Illinois.
The Senator and his wife, Rose, have four children.