North Egypt News

State Rep. Patrick Windhorst (R-Metropolis) took to social media recently to take aim at the state’s 2023-2024 fiscal year budget, signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

Windhorst took aim at how the budget process unfolded in the legislature in a Facebook post.

"The process that produced this budget was reminiscent of past years,” the legislator said on social media. “A massive spending plan was dropped on legislators' desks with inadequate time for review, with little time for the public to review it and provide input, and was passed through the House of Representatives on the last day of Session after midnight.”

“I voted against the budget that the governor signed into law today because I fundamentally oppose the process that produced the budget, and I am strongly opposed to several controversial items that this budget funds,” Windhorst said in the statement. “The FY 24 budget spends $50.4 billion dollars, which is a record. Included in that funding is money for pay raises for lawmakers, hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for free Medicaid healthcare coverage for undocumented immigrants, and increased funding for taxpayer-funded abortions.”

Pritzker, a Democrat, signed the $50.4 billion budget bill on June 7, and added an amendment that reduced the amount of pay raises for lawmakers. The rate of the pay raise was deemed unconstitutional.

"It is evident that the errors in the amounts to compensate all of these officers were inadvertent and that the General Assembly intended for the amounts set forth in Senate Bill 250 simply to implement the salaries provided by law," he wrote in an amendatory message to the Senate.

According to the State Journal-Register, the reductions accounted for $192,700 on top of the originally enacted amount, the governor noted.

According to the Illinois Legislature website, State Sen. Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) filed Senate Bill on Jan. 31, defining the pay raise, and it was forwarded to the House on May 25, with State Rep. Emanual “Chris” Welch (D-Hillside) sponsoring a version in that chamber. The measure then was sent to the governor’s desk for his approval earlier this month, according to the website.

Windhorst represents the 117th House District, and was originally elected in 2018 to represent the 118th District. A former Massac County State’s Attorney, he graduated from Massac County High School, Shawnee Community College, the University of Illinois, and Southern Illinois University Carbondale, according to his official website.