Carbondale Reporter

In an April 27 Facebook post, Illinois state Rep. Patrick Windhorst (R-Metropolis) introduced the Truth in Public Safety Working Group.

“The Truth in Public Safety Working group has come up with a package of more than 20 bills through our work," he said in the post. "We have developed legislation centering around protecting crime victims, restoring cash bail with reforms, and recruiting and retaining police officers.”

The Facebook post also shared a link to a news release on his website that offered more details. Windhorst leads the new working group and has been working with his fellow Republican House leaders in the group since January.

"The working group’s mission was to meet with various stakeholders involved with the criminal justice system to formulate a package of public safety legislation," the release said.

The group announced a legislative package that includes several topics—from law enforcement recruitment and retention to victim protection. Another element of the package is what the group calls The Real Pre-Trial Fairness Act.

The Real Pre-Trial Fairness Act includes House Bill 4052, which is sponsored by Illinois state Reps. Dan Ugaste (R-Geneva), Tony McCombie (R-Savanna), Amy Grant (R-Wheaton), Dennis Tipsford (R-Pontiac), Kevin Schmidt (R-Cahokia Heights), Martin McLaughlin (R-Barrington Hills) and Windhorst. This bill would reinstate cash bail and restore "certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 concerning cash bail to the form in which they existed before their amendment by Public Act 101-652 by amendment or reenactment with specified modifications." It would also create new pretrial procedures and a new reference for terms like "pretrial release," "denial of pretrial release," "conditions of pretrial release" and "violations of the conditions of pretrial release." The terms would be construed to mean "bail," "denial of bail," "conditions of bail" and "forfeiture of bail," respectively. The bill additionally points to specific offenses for which the domestic violence surveillance program is applicable.

If passed, the legislation would go into effect June 1, 2025.

Windhorst was first elected to the Illinois House in 2018, the General Assembly website said. His legislative experience includes serving on the Restorative Justice and Judiciary-Criminal committees. He resides in Metropolis.