Quincy Reporter

Sen. Jil Tracy (R-Quincy) used her week-in-review post on Facebook to critique Gov. J.B. Pritzker's handling of the COVID-19 crisis.

“Gov. Pritzker issued more executive orders last week, continuing his year-and-a-half long streak of unilaterally controlling the state’s response to COVID-19,” the lawmaker said in the post. “As of Sept. 23, the Governor has issued more than 90 Executive Orders.”

Tracy argues some of governor’s orders have backfired and made a bad COVID situation even worse. She points to a vaccination mandate for congregate workers that was instituted before negotiating with the employees, ultimately forcing the administration to include a delay for the requirement in one of his Executive Orders.

“Gov. Pritzker has been forced to extend the deadline for state employees in congregate facilities to be vaccinated,” she said. “The delay is due to the fact that the Governor had issued the vaccination requirement before negotiating a solution with unions representing the workers, a necessary step before implementing that type of mandate.”

State employees at state-owned or state-operated congregate facilities now have until Oct. 14 to get vaccinated, with the Oct. 4 deadline for such workers as corrections and long-term care staffers remaining in place.

Tracy posted a link to an editorial in the Peoria Journal Star, signed by dozens of school administrators who blasted Pritzker’s mandate-filled approach as “an incremental dismantling of local control” in public education.

In their op-ed, the school officials expressed frustration with the way they insist the governor’s mandates have left them feeling as if they are powerless in having a voice about their districts' direction.

Tracy also takes exception to the vaccine-or-test mandate Pritzker put in place for schools before the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) released guidance on the policy.

Executive Order 2021-23 also contained an Oct. 3 expiration date of the governor’s much debated moratorium on residential evictions.

After extending his original March 2020 Executive Order, the governor’s new order allows for legal action, though law enforcement is still banned from executing evictions.

With most tenants considered “covered,” evictions are only allowed in health and safety circumstances, for tenants who refuse to fill out paperwork for assistance, cannot provide proof of hardships due to the pandemic or those who earn an income of more than $99,000 individually or $198,000 jointly.