Legislators return to Springfield this week for a key week of bill action. For both the Senate and the House of Representatives, bills must receive a successful vote from their chamber of origin by this Friday, April 17. We are expecting long days on the Senate floor, with several recesses during the days for last-minute committee hearings. It’s a chaotic week and all legislators will be pushing hard for their bills to receive positive votes on the floor before we adjourn on Friday.
Following this week’s activity, Senators will be back home in their districts next week to tend to local issues, and then when we return to the Capitol at the end of April, the legislative process begins again, with Senate bills being vetted in the House, and House bills going through the review process in the Senate.
As we move into May, the budget for Fiscal Year 2027 also starts to take center stage. Over the last several weeks, state agencies and departments have brought their spending “asks” for FY 2027 to the Appropriations Committee. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I can attest that these meetings have been well-attended, and I, along with the other Senate Republicans on the committee, have been asking tough questions of department heads and demanding accountability on spending and result metrics.
Witness Slips Allow You to Provide Meaningful Input on Bills
As mentioned, as bills continue to move through the legislative process, committee hearings will be ongoing. It is at this point that you can engage and have your official support or opposition entered into the record. The witness slip portal opens when a bill is assigned for a hearing, and closes immediately following a bill’s hearing.
Your opinions are important! Please click here to view a short video on how to submit a witness slip. These showings of support or opposition are a vital part of the process. We do pay attention and look at the witness slips prior to committee hearings. We strongly encourage you to engage in this meaningful way. Of course, you are also always welcome to call us or send us emails to express your feelings about pending legislation.
Unused/Expired Drug Drop-Off Event Set for April 25 in Elburn
There’s still time for you to clean out your medicine cabinets and collect all unused or expired medications and deliver them for safe, environmentally-friendly disposal.
Prescription and non-prescription drug drop-off events play a critical role in keeping communities safe by providing a secure and responsible way to dispose of unused or expired medications. When medications sit in medicine cabinets, they can become easy targets for misuse, accidental ingestion, or theft. These events also help reduce the availability of potentially dangerous substances and lower the risk of accidental poisonings and overdoses. Additionally, drug take-back programs remove these excess medications from circulation, cutting off a common pathway to addiction.
Prescription drug drop-off events also help protect the environment. Flushing medications down the toilet or throwing them in the trash can lead to contamination of water supplies and soil, as wastewater treatment systems are not always equipped to filter out pharmaceutical compounds.
Reservation Portal Now Open for May 12 Mobile DMV Event in St. Charles
If you want to avoid the lines at the DMV, State Representative Dan Ugaste and I invite you to take advantage of an upcoming Mobile DMV event that will be held in St. Charles on May 12.
Available services are listed in the event graphic.
Please note that seniors aged 78+ must visit an established Secretary of State Driver Services facility to renew a driver’s license. Payments for services at our mobile event must be made by check, credit card, debit card, or money order. No cash will be accepted at the St. Charles event.
Registration is required for this event. Those wanting to secure an appointment should visit repugaste.com/mobile-dmv-registration-2 and fill out the appointment form. Additionally, before coming to the event, attendees should visit the official website for the Illinois Secretary of State to learn about identification requirements for specific services. This is especially important for those wanting a REAL I.D.
REAL I.D. transactions cannot be completed without the proper documentation and identification.
For additional information about this event or to receive help securing an appointment, please call my office at (847) 214-8245 or contact Abby at amccarthy@sgop.ilga.gov.
But Wait! There’s More!
In addition to the events already mentioned, my staff and I are putting the finishing touches on many other outreach events in June and beyond. Please mark your calendars for the following outreach events in the 33rd District:
June 2: Property Tax Seminar in St. Charles- June 9: IPASS on Demand in Lake in the Hills
- June 17: ICASH/Unclaimed Property Event in Carpentersville
- July 13: IPASS on Demand in South Elgin
- August 4: ICASH/Unclaimed Property Event in South Elgin
- August 19: Senior Fair in Carpentersville
- September 12: Document Shredding Event in Elgin
- October 14: Senior Fair in Crystal Lake
All of these events are listed on the Events page of my website with full details. Additional events are added regularly, so please visit my Events page regularly to learn about new events as they are added to the schedule.
Madigan Returns to Court in Bid to Overturn Corruption Conviction
Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan is back in court as he continues his effort to overturn his federal corruption conviction.
Oral arguments in Madigan’s appeal are being heard by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. Madigan was convicted in February 2025 on 10 counts, including bribery, wire fraud, conspiracy, and related corruption charges tied to a long-running scheme involving Commonwealth Edison. Madigan, who turns 84 later this month, is returning to the courtroom, seeking to have his conviction thrown out.
Madigan reported to federal prison in October 2025 after a judge sentenced him to 7.5 years behind bars. He is serving that sentence at a minimum-security federal prison camp in Morgantown, West Virginia.
Senate Republicans say Madigan’s appeal is another reminder that Illinois still has not enacted the kind of meaningful ethics reforms needed to restore public trust. They continue to call for stronger oversight, tougher anti-corruption protections, and greater transparency in state government to help prevent future abuses of power.
Illinois Ranks High for Cyber Crime Complaints, Financial Losses
Illinois recorded one of the highest totals in the country for cybercrime complaints last year, according to the FBI’s latest Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) report.
The report shows Illinois ranked fifth nationwide in complaints and eighth in reported losses in 2025. Illinois residents filed 32,977 complaints, with total losses reaching $535 million. That marks an increase from the $479 million reported in 2024.
Across the country, reported losses tied to cyber-enabled crime climbed to over $20 billion in 2025, up from $16.6 billion the year before.
The FBI says cyber threats are continuing to grow and change, especially as emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence become more widely used. In response, the agency is encouraging stronger cybersecurity practices for both individuals and organizations.
To improve preparedness, the FBI launched Operation Winter Shield, a public awareness campaign highlighting steps organizations can take to improve resilience against cyber intrusions, including:
- Adopt phish-resistant authentication
- Implement a risk-based vulnerability management program
- Track and retire end-of-life technology on a defined schedule
- Manage third-party risk
- Protect security logs and preserve them for an appropriate time period
- Maintain offline immutable backups and test restoration
- Identify, inventory, and protect internet-facing systems and services
- Strengthen email authentication and malicious content protections
- Reduce administrator privileges
- Exercise your incident response plan with all stakeholders
For more on Operation Winter Shield, click here.