Federal financial filings from Illinois’ largest government union show only 20 percent of its spending goes toward representing its members.

Of the more than 3,700 Illinois state workers who stopped sending part of every paycheck to a union, 2,800 stopped sending their money to AFSCME.

State records show AFSCME Council 31 funnels membership dues into its political action committee, which just gave a record-breaking $767,800 donation to Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan.

The state of New Mexico has taken steps to comply with the Janus v. AFSCME decision by stopping all union dues and fees until members sign new authorizations. Illinois should follow suit.

At least 300 Chicago Public Schools employees have stopped paying fees to the Chicago Teachers Union after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled they could not be forced to pay the union just to keep their jobs.

One school district in New Jersey has stopped deducting union dues and fees until it has new authorizations from employees to do so – a step in line with what the U.S. Supreme Court demanded of state and local government employers and government unions in Janus v. AFSCME. Illinois governments should follow suit.

At least 730 Cook County and 646 Chicago employees have been freed from paying forced union fees following the Janus v. AFSCME decision.

The 2017 permanent income tax hike took $732 from the median Illinois household, roughly the same as the $737 that will be returned to state workers who were previously forced to pay “fair share” fees to government unions.

The union’s own reporting shows only 20 percent of its overall spending is on “representational activities,” which should cause members to question what they are paying for.

State workers previously paying “fair share” fees no longer have money deducted from their paychecks on behalf of a union.