West Central Reporter

 Sen. Jil Tracy (R-Quincy) took to Facebook to list her grievances with 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,” Tracy said in a post to Facebook. “As of Sept. 23, the Governor has issued more than 90 Executive Orders.”

Tracy claims Pritzker's actions have backfired and only made a bad situation worse. As an example, the lawmaker points to a vaccination mandate for congregate workers that was instituted before negotiations were held with employees.

“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 deriding Pritzker’s mandate-filled approach as “an incremental dismantling of local control” in public education.

In their op-ed, administrators expressed growing frustration with the way they insist the governor’s mandates have largely left them sidelined when it comes to having a say in 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 addresses the Oct. 3 expiration date related to the governor’s much debated moratorium on residential evictions. After extending his original March 2020 dictum, 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.