Dear Friend,
The Illinois House of Representatives is not in Session this week as members are back working in their districts attending events and meeting with constituents. The schedule for the House is very robust for the months of April and May. Democrats have so far only allowed around 10% of the bills filed by House Republicans to be heard and voted on in Committee. That is a sad fact – House Republicans represent more than 4 million Illinoisans and roughly 33% of districts in the House. Democrats have stifled the voices of Republican members by squashing their bills, thus disenfranchising the citizens that Representatives like me represent.
House Republicans have so far introduced comprehensive packages of legislation to address our most pressing problems. We know that Illinois needs ethics reforms to stamp out corruption, so House Republicans introduced a package of bills that would end the lobbyist revolving door (HB 3115), stop legislators from serving as lobbyists to county and municipal governments (HB 1384), and end the practice of allowing someone charged with public corruption to use their campaign fund to pay for their legal defense (HB 1554). Regular people who are interacting with our justice system for whatever reason do not have a special fund they can use to get themselves out of trouble. Illinois’ embarrassing history of corruption and the most recent guilty verdict in Mike Madigan’s bribery and racketeering case has so far not been enough to get Democrats on board with passing meaningful ethics reforms.
House Republicans have also sponsored a multitude of bills aimed at stopping illegal immigration and ending the Sanctuary State policies that have cost our citizens billions of dollars. Our Stopping Illegal Immigration package includes HB 1317 and HB 1345, legislation that would repeal the TRUST Act that prohibits law enforcement agencies from working with federal authorities to identify and deport criminal illegal immigrants. HB 1456 would eliminate taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal immigrants. The estimated costs of these benefits have been found to have been woefully underestimated and have cost taxpayers nearly $3 billion during the final three years of the Biden administration. HB 3417 would make the Department of Corrections exempt from the TRUST Act, allowing our partners in the Department of Corrections to work with federal authorities to deport criminals. HB 3241 would allow counties to opt out of the Sanctuary State policies of the state by referendum, returning the decision whether to work with federal authorities to local units of government. None of these bills were allowed a hearing or a vote during Committee deadline week.
The bottom line is this: House Republicans have introduced serious and meaningful proposals that would help address many of our pressing problems. House Democrats have used their power to stifle these bills, along with bills in our Stopping Human Trafficking and Improving Public Safety bill packages. What they have introduced are some entirely unserious and troubling legislation. Here are a few examples:
SJRCA 4 – Implement a progressive tax. This idea was defeated by Illinois voters during the November 2020 election, with more than 3 million citizens voting NO.
HB 3518 – Legalize sex work (prostitution) and provide sex worker rights.
HB 2 – Allows inmates to vote from jail.
HB 1608 – Creates environmental justice communities.
HB 1146 – Bans plastic bags.
HB 1600 – Single use plastic ban.
These are just a few examples of the overreach and misplaced priorities that we have seen introduced during this Session. There are others, but we do not have space to list them all here. In sum, House Republicans have worked hard to draw attention to major issues and address them through legislation. House Democrats have shut us down time and again, ignored several major issues facing our state, and doubled down on bad ideas.
I will continue to keep you updated on legislation as a breakneck pace is expected to begin when lawmakers return to Springfield next Monday, April 7. It is my honor and privilege to serve you in Springfield as your 117th District State Representative. If I can ever be of assistance to you, please reach out to my office in either Harrisburg or West Frankfort at (618) 294-8703 or email me at [email protected]. You can keep up with legislative session at ILGA.gov and on my website at RepWindhorst.com.
Rep. Windhorst – In the News
Click on the photo below to read news articles featuring Rep. Windhorst!
House Republican Week in Review
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Democrats Follow the Leader, Continue to Undermine Illinois. For weeks, the Democratic supermajority has wasted time on the House floor throwing tantrums against President Donald Trump’s actions to “Make America Great Again.” Democrats have decried Republican efforts to make life more affordable for everyday Americans, to secure our borders, and to cut wasteful government spending. After only 10% of the bills passed out of committee by last week’s deadline were Republican bills, and after two session days were canceled this week, House Minority Leader Tony McCombie issued the following statement:
“I took to the House floor last week to call out the poor decorum that has been allowed to permeate our chamber. We have had enough! It is time to focus on our state’s many challenges and put forward public policy that will help Illinoisans who are struggling with the high cost of living.
“Over the last few weeks Republicans have unveiled legislative bill packages on curbing human trafficking, supporting working families, stopping illegal immigration, ethics reform, and improving public safety. Instead, the Democratic supermajority has chosen to push their radical priorities, to include a few Green New Deal scams, legalizing magic mushrooms, voting from prison, and banning plastic grocery bags and straws. We can and must do better for Illinois.”
EDUCATION
The Wall Street Journal slams IL Democrats’ ‘Assault on Home-Schoolers.’ House Republicans continue to fight to protect the rights of parents to choose the best educational experience for their children.
House Bill 2827, the “Homeschool Act,” was heard in committee last week and passed over the objection of tens of thousands of families choosing home or private school for their children. This bill mandates that non-public elementary and secondary schools register annually with the Illinois State Board of Education and requires homeschools to fill out a Homeschool Declaration Form or risk truancy, which could lead to fines and even imprisonment. It further requires homeschool administrators to submit personal information about themselves and their students to state and local authorities.
“Illinois should empower parents to place their children in education environments that help them learn and succeed,” said Rep. Amy Elik. “Bureaucrats in Springfield have bigger problems to solve than tracking parents’ schooling decisions. This bill attempts to solve a problem that does not exist.”
The public has been vocal about their opposition to this state overreach. Nearly 51,000 motivated residents filed witness slips in opposition to HB 2827. Thousands of Illinoisans went to the State Capitol last week to express their opposition and speak to lawmakers about their positive experience with homeschooling.
HB 2827 was heard in the Education Policy Committee where Elik is the House Republican Spokesperson. Despite all Republicans voting in opposition, it passed committee and was advanced to the House Floor for further action. Residents who agree HB 2827 should be stopped should sign the House Republicans’ petition to Protect Homeschool Freedom.
The Wall Street Journal editorial board slammed ‘The Illinois Assault on Home-Schoolers’ in a scathing editorial published on Friday, March 21. The WSJ editorial stated that “Democrats want to impose new rules and bureaucracy on parents.”
Fewer than one in three students in Chicago Public Schools can read at grade level. That should be a five-alarm fire for the Democrats who run Illinois, but they have other priorities—to wit, regulating those dastardly parents who educate their children at home.
On Wednesday Democrats passed the Homeschool Act out of a House committee on an 8-4 vote. Current state law imposes minimal regulations on home-schoolers, requiring only that they teach certain core subjects. Democrats introduced the Homeschool Act after a 2024 report by Capitol News Illinois and ProPublica claimed Illinois’s limited oversight leaves home-schooled children vulnerable to abuse. […]
Under the bill, home-school families would have to submit annual forms to their local public school that include students’ names, birth dates, grade levels and home addresses. Families who fail to submit the forms would be subject to criminal truancy penalties.
Families must also allow the state to compile annual reports on home-schooled students, and state authorities may demand at any time that a home-school administrator submit for review a log of curricular materials and an assessment of academic progress. The bill also requires private schools to register with the state and submit to requests for personal information on all enrolled students and guardians. […]
The good news is that the home-school putsch has aroused the public. Ahead of Wednesday’s vote, nearly 50,000 voters had filed witness slips against the Homeschool Act, compared with fewer than 1,000 in favor. Perhaps Democrats will listen to the public for a change.
Republicans Demand Response from IHSA on Protecting Female Athletes. On March 18th, 2025, the House Republican caucus sent a letter to the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) asking the organization to detail how their policies and protocols for administering high school sports will be amended in line with President Donald J. Trump’s Executive Order which prohibits biological men from competing against biological women in sports.
The IHSA’s failure to respond prompted House Minority Leader Tony McCombie to issue the following statement:
“House Republicans stand united on this issue and demand a response from the IHSA on behalf of concerned parents and students across Illinois. Fairness and safety in sports is not a political issue and should not be up for debate. Policies protecting same-sex sports and locker rooms must align with federal policy to ensure the integrity of competition and the well-being of all student-athletes.”
ETHICS REFORM
House Republicans Call for Anti-Corruption Package. House Republican lawmakers presented their legislative proposals to once again bring forward an opportunity for ethics reform in the Illinois statehouse. The proposals are an attempt to restore public faith in government and root out commonplace corruption under the dome. State Representatives Patrick Windhorst, Dave Severin, and David Friess discussed the unfortunate record of public corruption guilty verdicts impacting the Illinois General Assembly, including the former Speaker of the Illinois House Michael Madigan.
State Representative Patrick Windhorst, a former prosecutor, and a current member of the House Judiciary Criminal Law, Restorative Justice, and Ethics and Elections Committees is sponsoring a number of ethics reform bills including HB 2413, which would prohibit legislators and Constitutional officers from lobbying at the local level. For Rep. Windhorst, it is a common sense first step forward.
“While Democrat politicians were arrested, indicted, charged, convicted, and incarcerated, we waited for action,” said Windhorst. “We have been disappointed time after time. While House Republicans continue to wait for Illinois Democrats to take the issue of public corruption seriously, we’ve been busy filing and sponsoring comprehensive legislative ethics reforms to stamp out corruption. Our legislative efforts aim to turn our state from a corrupt embarrassment into something our citizens can be proud of.”
State Representative Dave Severin says much more must be done to restore public trust.
“Rep. Windhorst and I were both here when Mike Madigan was still in control of this place,” said Severin. “A lot has changed since then. We had COVID, we’ve had arrests of politicians, we’ve had indictments, guilty pleas, and even guilty verdicts. Some things haven’t changed, we have the same House Rules, the same handpicked politicians running the place, and the same miserable results. I am proud of the work that my fellow Southern Illinois House Republicans have done to try to clean up this mess.”
State Representative David Friess discussed the long list of indictments as reason enough that ethics reform cannot wait.
“Today is our final day to pass house bills out of committee…and how many of our ethics reform bills have made it out of committee to even be considered on the House floor? Zero. With indictment after indictment, not a single ethics reform proposal we’ve introduced will even be debated in the chamber this spring. It’s shameful,” said Friess.
The House Republican members further noted just how long the people of Illinois have been subjected to public corruption laying out their objective when it comes to reform: No more legislators as lobbyists, close the revolving door, and end the use of campaign money to pay for public corruption defense.
The ethics reform legislation House Republicans are backing includes the following:
- HB 1382 – Puts ‘teeth’ into the Legislative Inspector General’s office to issue subpoenas without first seeking approval from the people they may be investigating.
- HB 1384 – Addresses local government lobbying reform.
- HB 1385 – Closes the loophole in the current revolving door policy that allows a legislator to be a member one day and the next day be a lobbyist.
- HB 3115 – 3-year revolving door lobbying ban for members of the General Assembly.
- HB 3121 – Implements representation case and recusal reform.
- HB 1554 – Bans public officials from using campaign funds for their own legal defense.
- HB 2813 – Requires a 72-Hour budget review before a vote on the budget.
JOBS
Latest unemployment report shows stagnating Illinois economy. The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) announced Thursday that the unemployment rate fell -0.1 percentage point to 4.8 percent in February, based on preliminary data provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The revised January unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.9 percent. The Illinois unemployment rate was down -0.1 percentage point from a year ago when it was 4.9 percent. The national unemployment rate was 4.1 percent in February, up +0.1 percentage point from the previous month, making the state’s unemployment +0.7 percentage point higher than the national unemployment rate.
Illinois nonfarm payrolls remained nearly unchanged in February at -6,500 (-0.1%), while the January monthly change in payrolls was revised from -1,100 to -4,400. The industry sectors with over-the-month job increases included: Construction (+2,900), Trade, Transportation and Utilities (+2,300), and Professional and Business Services (+1,900). The industry sectors with the largest monthly payroll job decreases included: Government (-5,600), Leisure and Hospitality (-3,100), and Private Education and Health Services (-1,700).
The number of unemployed workers was 321,000, down -1.0% from the prior month, and down -0.9 percent over the same month one year ago. The labor force was down -0.2% over-the-month and up +0.9 percent over-the-year.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
$8 Million Announced for Desperately Needed Repairs at Lincoln’s New Salem Site. The New Salem State Historic Site is now slated to receive an infusion of funding to perform major repairs, following the work of Representative Wayne Rosenthal, State Senator Steve McClure, and members of the Lincoln League volunteer organization to draw attention to the condition of the site.
“I would like to thank the Department of Natural Resources and the Capital Development Board for prioritizing funding to make desperately needed repairs,” said Representative Rosenthal. “The funding provided ensures that future generations will be able to experience the place where Abraham Lincoln lived, learned, and became one of our nation’s greatest leaders.”
“I am proud that our work was able to help secure funding to make desperately needed repairs at the site,” said Senator McClure. “This is an important step toward restoring what is one of the most important Lincoln sites in the country, so that people can continue to visit and study the history of our nation’s greatest president.”
On March 19th, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) and the Illinois Capital Development Board (CDB) jointly announced $8 million in funding for repairs at the site. According to the agencies, the funding will be used to make repairs to up to 23 log buildings, as well as updates for the outdoor theater.
The announcement follows recent press conferences and media tours put together by McClure, Rosenthal, and the Lincoln League to raise awareness of the conditions of many of the structures on the site, including collapsed roofs, structural issues, and a failing elevated pedestrian walkway.
“Today’s funding announcement of $8 million in state capital funding for Lincoln’s New Salem State Historic Site is greatly appreciated and sorely needed,” said Gina Gillmore-Wolter, President of the New Salem Lincoln League representing volunteers committed for decades to preserving the historic legacy of the site near Springfield where Lincoln spent formative years as a young adult. “We sincerely thank Gov. Pritzker’s Administration, IDNR, CDB and the tireless commitment of champions in the Legislature Sen. Steve McClure and Rep. Wayne Rosenthal, who represent the New Salem site, for working to address the urgent infrastructure issues at this site. We have called clearly and loudly for help, and we believe this announcement shows those calls have been heard. We need now to work with the Administration to ensure the funds can be released quickly so repairs can be made before more damage is done to the homes and buildings at New Salem. We will also work closely with Sen. McClure, Rep. Rosenthal and the Legislature on the best path forward for our legislative package to address the needs at the site today, tomorrow, and for many generations to come.”