Susan Garrett began her career in Illinois politics when she was elected State Representative in 1998. After serving two terms in the House, Garrett was elected State Senator of the 29^th Legislative District. Throughout her time in both chambers, Garrett has been a vocal advocate for accessible and affordable health care, ethics reform, and environmentally-conscious policy.

Garrett has sponsored multiple initiatives that provide a better quality of life for Illinois residents. These measure include increased funding for the Comprehensive Health Insurance Plan Act (CHIP), allowing more individuals to receive health care coverage for a longer period of time. Senator Garrett also fought hard to ensure that children with Autism are covered under the Department of Human Services Act, requiring insurance companies to cover treatment and therapy disorder. Looking out for those with special needs, Garrett introduced legislation assisting families with deaf and blind children. Her legislative efforts require school districts to notify the parents of the existence of local facilities that provide services for their children.

She also served as a driving force behind a comprehensive ethics reform package that passed the legislature earlier this year. She sponsored a number of policies designed to provide more transparency and accountability in state government. Included in these efforts was House Bill 35, which creates the Illinois Transparency and Accountability Portal (ITAP). This legislation provides an internet portal that will list information about State employees and consultants, State expenditures, all revocations and suspensions of tax certificates and professional licenses, and all current State contracts.

Garrett also introduced Senate Bill 1919 as part of the State’s ongoing “Do Not Flush” campaign. This law stipulates that health care facilities and their employees are prohibited from discharging, disposing of, flushing, pouring or emptying any unused medication into a public waterway collection system or a septic system. This initiative stemmed from the findings of a subject matter hearing on water quality and the levels of pharmaceuticals in water conducted by the Senate Public Health Committee in 2008. Senator Garrett has recently called upon the Governor and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to form a Clean Water Commission, which would be entrusted with the job of analyzing and measuring water sources across the state for traces of pharmaceuticals and other chemicals every quarter. Garrett’s other environmental initiatives include creating electronic recycling policies for businesses in Illinois and a household-waste disposal program, administered by the Environmental Protection Agency.

In addition to her legislative accomplishments, Garrett has always made it a priority to be highly accessible to all of her constituents. She holds regular town hall meetings to hear directly from residents about the issues that are important to them, sometimes developing legislation from the ideas that come out of these meetings. She strongly believes that our government as a whole should be open and accessible to Illinois residents. While the Senate is in session in Springfield during the week, Susan comes home to her district on the weekends and often reaches out to residents through forums, programs, and town hall meetings.

Senator Garrett is currently Chair of the Senate Environment Committee and Vice-Chair of the Commerce Committee. She also serves on the Revenue, Education, Public Health Committees and the Joint Committee on Government Reform.

The 29^th Legislative District includes parts of Lake and suburban Cook Counties, including all or part of the following communities: Bannockburn, Deerfield, Des Plaines, Fort Sheridan, Glencoe, Glenview, Highland Park, Highwood, Knollwood, Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Mount Prospect, Niles, Northbrook, Park Ridge, Prospect Heights, and Riverwoods.

Senator Garrett and her husband Scott reside in Lake Forest and have two grown children, Brett and Elizabeth.