Louisiana SR 126: COMMENDATIONS: Commends the Honorable Fred H. Mills Jr. on twenty-three years of distinguished public service.

Bill Text

2023 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 126
BY SENATORS CORTEZ, ABRAHAM, ALLAIN, BARROW, BERNARD,
BOUDREAUX, BOUIE, CARTER, CATHEY, CLOUD, CONNICK,
DUPLESSIS, FESI, FIELDS, FOIL, HARRIS, HENRY, HENSGENS,
HEWITT, JACKSON, KLEINPETER, LAMBERT, LUNEAU,
MCMATH, MILLIGAN, ROBERT MILLS, MIZELL, MORRIS,
PEACOCK, POPE, PRICE, REESE, SMITH, STINE, TALBOT,
TARVER, WHITE AND WOMACK
A RESOLUTION
To commend the Honorable Fred H. Mills Jr. on twenty-three years of distinguished public
service to the state of Louisiana and to express heartfelt gratitude for the kindness,
compassion, intellect, humor, and statesmanship he brought to the Louisiana State
Capitol.
WHEREAS, Fred H. Mills Jr. was born and raised in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, into
a family deeply rooted in faith, hard work, and public service; and
WHEREAS, his father, Fred H. Mills Sr., was the mayor of Breaux Bridge for most
of the 1970s and was regarded by everyone as a man of great respectability; and
WHEREAS, Fred H. Mills Sr. was an exemplary role model for his son on how to
use the great privilege of being a public servant to treat people with respect and kindness to
achieve a benefit for all; and
WHEREAS, Senator Mills is considered the flesh-and-blood replica of his
immensely respected late father and is a perfect reflection of the character and integrity
imparted upon him by his late mother, Mary Alice Mills, who instilled in her son the
importance of responsibility, hard work, prayerfulness, and thankfulness; and
WHEREAS, Senator Mills graduated from Breaux Bridge High School and the
University of Louisiana at Monroe, College of Pharmacy, and in 1981, at the young age of
twenty-six, opened his own pharmacy, Mills Cashway Pharmacy in Parks, Louisiana; and
WHEREAS, as a licensed pharmacist he was a pioneer in the development of
pharmaceutical delivery and grew his small community pharmacy throughout all of rural St.
Martin Parish long before the internet or home delivery of any commodity was considered
mainstream; and
WHEREAS, his hilarious commercials for Mills Cashway Pharmacy garnered him
several national awards for creative advertising, but his intention was greater than just
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making people laugh, it was to draw people into the pharmacy so he could help them
properly take their medications, manage their chronic conditions, and help improve the
quality of life of the people in his community; and
WHEREAS, he also served as the executive director for the Louisiana Board of
Pharmacy, and during his tenure he was responsible for the complete rewrite and
modernization of the Pharmacy Practice Act to better utilize the skills and expertise of the
pharmacist in the patient continuum of care; and
WHEREAS, during the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Senator
Mills was tapped by Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco to be the state lead on the
monumental task of managing the Strategic National Stockpile federal repository of
antibiotics, vaccines, chemical antidotes, antitoxins, and other critical medical supplies being
brought into the state; overseeing a process to reunite patients, many of whom were
dispersed throughout the United States, with critical medications and supplies that were lost
following the catastrophic destruction of pharmacies and pharmacy records at a time before
access to electronic patient records was common; and rallying the pharmacy community to
continue to provide medications without payment for many months until he was able to wear
down the bureaucrats at the Federal Emergency Management Agency to finally issue
reimbursement; and
WHEREAS, in addition to being a pharmacist, Senator Mills has been on the Board
of Directors of Farmers Merchants Bank and Trust and has served as the president and CEO
of the bank for the past twenty-two years; and
WHEREAS, during his tenure as president and CEO, he significantly grew bank
assets, expanded to six branches in three parishes, managed over one hundred employees,
bolstered the commercial book of business significantly, and led the bank through major
technological advancements, and still today, he continues to guide his employees through
the rapidly changing style of banking demanded by consumers; and
WHEREAS, Senator Mills began his political career in 2000, being elected to the St.
Martin Parish Council, where he served until 2007; and
WHEREAS, as a councilman he not only used his expertise in the realm of health
care and banking to better serve his community, but was immediately indoctrinated into the
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daily struggles of people regarding roads, bridges, sewer, water, drainage, flooding, schools,
taxes, and so many other issues that would shape his entire political career; and
WHEREAS, in 2007, he was elected to represent the people of Louisiana House of
Representatives District No. 46, and was immediately recognized for his captivating ability
as a freshman legislator to tackle hard issues head-on while r