Daniel J. Ugaste is a lawyer, politician and

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

member of the

Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the current constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 re ...

for the 65th district. The district, located in the

Chicago metropolitan area The Chicago metropolitan area, also colloquially referred to as Chicagoland, is a metropolitan area in the Midwestern United States. Encompassing 10,286 sq mi (28,120 km2), the metropolitan area includes the city of Chicago, its suburbs and hi ...

, includes all or parts of

Batavia Batavia may refer to: Historical places * Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands * Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...

, Elgin,

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, South Elgin, and St. Charles.

Education and Law Career

The first person in his family to complete college, Ugaste earned a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

Lake Forest College Lake Forest College is a private liberal arts college in Lake Forest, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Lind University by a group of Presbyterian ministers, the college has been coeducational since 1876 and an undergraduate-focused liberal arts inst ...

and a

juris doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

DePaul University College of Law The DePaul University College of Law is the professional graduate law school of DePaul University in Chicago. The College of Law’s facilities encompass nine floors across two buildings, with features such as the Vincent G. Rinn Law Library and ...

. In the 1990's, Ugaste was an attorney for Seyfarth Shaw, Limited Liability Partnership and Wiedner & McAuliffe, Limited Company. Ugaste is a shareholder in the Nyhan, Bambrick, Kinzie and Lowry Law Firm and specializes in

workers' compensation Workers' compensation or workers' comp is a form of insurance providing wage replacement and medical benefits to employees injured in the course of employment in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee's right to sue his or her emp ...

. He worked as a member of the Illinois Workers' Compensation Medical Fee Advisory Board and as a technical advisor to Bruce Rauner's Office on Workers' Compensation Reform.

Illinois House of Representatives

In 2018, Ugaste was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives, defeating Democratic candidate Richard Johnson - the President of the Elgin Teachers Union. He succeeded retiring incumbent

Steven Andersson Steven A. Andersson (born August 15, 1964) is a former Republican member of the Illinois House of Representatives representing the 65th district. The 65th district is located in northwestern Kane County. Andersson earned his bachelor's degree fr ...

. In 2020, he was re-elected, narrowly defeating activist Martha Paschke. Ugaste won a third term in 2022, against scientist and small business owner Linda Robertson. Ugaste's former campaign committee chairman endorsed Robertson over Ugaste in the race, saying that Robertson had "made it clear that she will protect our rights to make personal decisions and live without excessive government interference," and that Robertson was the "better candidate."

Committees

In the 102nd Illinois General Assembly, Ugaste served on the House Committees on Energy & Environment; Judiciary; Labor & Commerce; Police & Fire; and the subcommittees on Civil Procedure & Tort Liability; Roadways, Rail, & Aviation; and Workforce Development.

Positions & Votes

Ugaste has consistently voted against protections for workers and LGBTQ people, abortion access, and criminal justice and gun control reforms. * Voted against prohibiting

housing discrimination Housing discrimination refers to patterns of discrimination that affect a person's ability to rent or buy housing. This disparate treatment of a person on the housing market can be based on group characteristics or on the place where a person liv ...

based on one's source of income * Did not vote on a bill prohibiting the sale of and possession of

homemade firearms Homemade may refer to: *Handicraft, things that are made by hand *''Homemade'', '' T4'' TV series 2006 *''HomeMADE'', Australian reality TV series 2009 *''Homemade TV'', a Canadian children's television series 1976 to 1977 * ''Homemade'' (album), ...

* Voted against a resolution supporting reproductive rights * Voted against safeguards for older LGBTQ+ people * Voted against requiring employers to provide each employee at least 24 consecutive hours of rest for every 7 day period * Voted against prohibiting schools from denying a student their transcript because of unpaid debt * Voted against expanding protections for victims of

domestic violence Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...

in the workplace * Did not vote on a bill allowing school district employees fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to take paid sick days without repercussion if they or their child have COVID-19 * Voted establishing an agriculture equity commission * Voted against the

SAFE-T Act The Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today Act, commonly known as the SAFE-T Act, is a state of Illinois statute enacted in 2021 that makes a number of reforms to the criminal justice system, affecting policing, pretrial detention and ...

* Voted against repealing the Parental Notice of Abortion Act, which required the legal guardian of a minor receiving an abortion to be notified of the abortion * Voted against prohibiting cities and counties from entering into contracts with

ICE Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaq ...

* Voted against consumer protections on online retail * Voted against prohibiting school discrimination against certain hairstyles * Voted against a

red flag law In the United States, a red flag law is a gun violence prevention law that permits a state court to order the temporary removal of firearms from a person who they believe may present a danger to others or themselves. A judge makes the determina ...

* Voted against requiring public and private schools comply with Illinois Department of Public Health COVID-19 regulations * Voted against amending the Equitable Restrooms Act to allow for all-gender restrooms * Co-sponsored a bill placing term limits on general assembly leadership positions * Voted against establishing the right to counsel for undocumented immigrants * Voted against expanding ballot drop boxes and curbside voting * Voted against reducing racial disparities in medical care * Voted against authorizing victims in personal injury and wrongful death cases to collect interest on money they receive from court * Voted against emphasizing the contributions Black and other minority groups in school curriculum * Voted against the 2020-2021 state budget * Voted in favor of establishing worker protections regarding the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

* Voted against expanding

absentee voting An absentee ballot is a vote cast by someone who is unable or unwilling to attend the official polling station to which the voter is normally allocated. Methods include voting at a different location, postal voting, proxy voting and online vot ...

in the 2020 election * Voted in favor of capping the cost of insulin to $100 per thirty days * Voted against allowing student athletes to receive compensation for their name, image or likeness * Voted against authorizing student absences for voting * Voted against establishing that public employees have the right to unionize * Voted against legalizing

recreational cannabis Recreational drug use indicates the use of one or more psychoactive drugs to induce an altered state of consciousness either for pleasure or for some other casual purpose or pastime by modifying the perceptions and emotions of the user. When a ...

* Voted against establishing a graduated state income tax * Voted against the 2019-2020 state budget * Voted against establishing rehabilitation classes as a means to reduce prison sentences * Voted against appropriating $45 billion for infrastructure repairs * Voted against expanding voting access in jails * Voted against expanding abortion protections * Voted against prohibiting animal testing on products sold in Illinois * Voted in favor of prohibiting puppy mills * Voted against expanding legal protections for undocumented immigrants * Voted against prohibiting electronic monitoring for people who have completed state sentences * Voted in favor of requiring police departments to keep records on

racial profiling Racial profiling or ethnic profiling is the act of suspecting, targeting or discriminating against a person on the basis of their ethnicity, religion or nationality, rather than on individual suspicion or available evidence. Racial profiling involv ...

* Co-sponsored a bill increasing fines for motorists who pass school busses * Voted against prohibiting private prisons and detention centers * Voted against allowing for a non-binary gender marker on state ID's * Voted against increasing penalties for employers who commit wage theft * Voted against increasing teachers baseline salary * Voted against allowing food stamp benefits to be used in restaurants * Voted against requiring civics education * Voted against prohibiting smoking in a vehicle with a minor present * Voted against requiring public schools to teach about prominent LGBTQ+ figures * Voted against raising the minimum wage to $15

Personal life

Ugaste lives in

and is married. He has three adult daughters.

Electoral history

References

External links

Campaign Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ugaste, Dan Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American politicians DePaul University College of Law alumni Illinois lawyers Lake Forest College alumni Republican Party members of the Illinois House of Representatives People from Geneva, Illinois Living people