In a press release, the Pritzker administration cited significant progress in reducing new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, with the average 7-day statewide case positivity rate falling to just 2.5 percent as of June 20.

“Over the last four months, Illinoisans have pulled together with the common mission of keeping each other safe. By staying home and practicing social distancing, the rate of new COVID-19 cases continues to drop and each region throughout the state is prepared to move to Phase 4 of the Restore Illinois plan,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Science and data are the overarching guardrails for how Illinois will keep moving forward. By continuing to wear face coverings and following the guidance from health experts we can continue to safely reopen our economy and move forward together.”

The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) collaborated closely with local governments, businesses, and other stakeholders in the development of guidelines for Phase 4. In all, more than 150 businesses and regional partners were consulted on the guidelines developed with IDPH to ensure alignment with the State’s Restore Framework and the latest public health data.

Phase 4 allows for the reopening or expansion of several key business segments – such as health and fitness, movies and theater, museums and zoos, as well as indoor dining at restaurants. Phase 4 also allows for expanded gathering sizes, increasing the limit from 10 in Phase 3, to 50 people or fewer. This expanded gathering limit extends to key activities like meetings, events, and funerals. 

Pritzker’s guidance includes:

• Meetings and events: Venues and meeting spaces can resume with the lesser of up to 50 people OR 50% of overall room capacity. Multiple groups are permitted given facilities have space to appropriately social distance and can limit interaction between groups. This includes activities such as conferences and weddings.
• Indoor and Outdoor recreation: Revised guidelines to allow select indoor recreation facilities (e.g., bowling alleys, skating rinks), as well as clubhouses to reopen. Indoor recreation to operate at lesser of 50 customers OR 50% of facility capacity with outdoor recreation allowing group sizes of up to 50, and permitting multiple groups given facilities have space to appropriately social distance and can limit interaction between groups; concessions permitted with restrictions.
• Indoor Dining: Indoor dining can reopen with groups of 10 or less, with tables spaced 6-feet apart in seated areas and with standing areas at no more than 25% of capacity.
• Museums: Can reopen with no more than 25% occupancy, and with interactive exhibits and rides closed; guided tours should be limited to 50 people or fewer per group; museums should have a plan to limit congregation via advance ticket sales and timed ticketing; concessions permitted with restrictions.
• Zoos: Can reopen with no more than 25% occupancy, and with interactive exhibits, indoor exhibits, and rides closed; guided tours should be limited to 50 people or fewer per group; zoos should have a plan to limit congregation via advance ticket sales and timed ticketing; concessions permitted with restrictions.
• Cinema and Theatre: Indoor seated theaters, cinemas, and performing arts centers to allow admission of the lesser of up to 50 guests OR 50% of overall theater or performance space capacity (applies to each screening room); outdoor capacity limited to 20% of overall theater or performance space capacity; concessions permitted with restrictions.
• Outdoor seated spectator events: Outdoor spectator sports can resume with no more than 20% of seating capacity; concessions permitted with restrictions.

Film production: Allow no more than 50% of sound stage or filming location capacity; crowd scenes should be limited to 50 people or fewer.

Industries with revised guidelines in Phase 4:

• Youth and Recreational Sports: Revised guidelines allow competitive gameplay and tournaments; youth and recreational sports venues can operate at 50% of facility capacity, 20% seating capacity for spectators, and group sizes up to 50 with multiple groups permitted during practice and competitive games given venues have space to appropriately social distance and can limit interaction between groups; concessions permitted with restrictions.
• Health and fitness centers: Revised guidelines allow gyms to open at 50% capacity and allow group fitness classes of up to 50 people with new safety guidelines for indoors, with multiple groups permitted given facilities have space to appropriately social distance and can limit interaction between groups.
• Day camps: Water-based activities permitted in accordance with IDPH guidelines; no more than 50% of facility capacity with group size of no more than 15 participants in a group, unless participants changing weekly.

Additionally, retail, service counters, offices, personal care (including salons, barber, nail salons), manufacturing and other industries allowed to reopen in Phase 3 will continue to operate at a reduced capacity.

During Phase 4, common public health standards remain in effect – including the use of face coverings and social distancing.

The state’s move to Phase 4 of the plan is expected to bring approximately 400,000 additional Illinoisans back to the workplace across all industries. 

Pritzker has not yet released any Executive Orders that may accompany the updated Phase 4 guidance. He has also said that he will not life restrictions until a vaccine or readily available, effective treatment for COVID-19 is available.

The post More businesses to reopen in Phase 4, groups of 50 will be allowed first appeared on SJO Daily.

SPRINGFIELD – Anyone who cast a ballot in the last three years or who registered to vote or changed addresses after the March primary will be sent an application to vote by mail after Gov. JB Pritzker signed a bill expanding the program Tuesday.

In a news release, Pritzker’s office said the program is aimed at ensuring “safe and active participation in the 2020 general election during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.”

Pritzker signed Senate Bill 1863 and House Bill 2238, which also expands early voting hours at permanent polling places and makes election day a state holiday.

Local election authorities must mail or email the applications to voters who cast a ballot in the 2018 general election, the 2019 consolidated election or the 2020 general primary election, as well as voters who registered or changed addresses after the March primary. Any eligible voter who submits an application by October 1 will receive their ballot by October 6.

“Sending vote-by-mail applications to residents who have participated in recent elections will allow more people to exercise that right from the safety of their own homes and help reduce the spread of COVID-19 in our communities,” Pritzker said in a news release.

The changes were backed by the House Democratic Women’s Caucus and sponsored by Rep. Kelly Burke, D-Evergreen Park, in the House and Sen. Julie Morrison, D-Lake Forest, in the Senate.

“The COVID 19 pandemic has created many challenges, but participation in the November election should not be one of them,” Burke, an assistant majority leader in the House, said in a statement. “Just as we have taken precautions to make shopping, traveling, and other everyday tasks safer, we must also take precautions and make adjustments to ensure everyone can safely exercise their right to vote.”

Republicans, however, have argued that the program is susceptible to fraud.

In Illinois Senate floor debate last month, Republicans raised questions on costs, input from county clerks, the security of collection sites and automatic sending of ballot applications.

Sen. Paul Schimpf, R-Waterloo, argued the bill creates a system with “significant” costs that are unnecessary given that Illinois already allows any citizen to vote by mail. He added it would also place a “significant burden” on local election authorities, whom he also argued have not been able to offer enough input.

The Illinois State Board of Elections filed a fiscal note saying that if the bill’s provisions are fully implemented by every local election authority, it would eat up every dollar of the more than $16.7 million the state will receive from the federal CARES Act for elections.

The legislation also requires the Illinois State Board of Elections to: post an application for a vote by mail ballot on its website; allow a new registrant to apply for a vote-by-mail ballot when completing the online registration; provide notice to election authorities about compliance with the new law; and adopt emergency rules to provide reimbursement for expenses related to the 2020 general election incurred as a result of COVID-19 and the new requirements.

The legislation also raises the standard for rejecting a vote-by-mail ballot by requiring local election authorities to appoint a bipartisan panel of three election judges to verify voters’ signatures and the validity of the ballot. Previously, only one election judge made this determination.

Also per the new laws, permanent branch polling places are required to be open from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the weekends and holidays for early voting. Curb-side voting, allowing voters to fill out the ballot outside of the polling place, will also be permitted.

Completed vote-by-mail ballots can be returned at new collection sites, which HB 2238 requires to be locked and opened only by election authorities.

The legislation also requires local election authorities to establish a central voting site where anyone who lives in the jurisdiction can vote, regardless of precinct.

The new laws take effect immediately and only apply to the 2020 general election.

The post Pritzker expands vote by mail, makes election day a state holiday first appeared on SJO Daily.

By JERRY NOWICKI
Capitol News Illinois
jnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.com

SPRINGFIELD — Gov. JB Pritzker signed a state budget for fiscal year 2021 Wednesday, but there is no more financial clarity now than there was when lawmakers passed the measure last month.

The $42.9 billion operating budget relies upon borrowing up to $5 billion from the federal government, which would be necessary if Congress does not pass any laws providing extra funding for states amid revenue shortfalls stemming from the novel coronavirus pandemic. The budget includes repayment of $1.6 billion in borrowing to cover shortfalls in the current fiscal year budget due to the pandemic.

According to the May report of the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, or CoGFA, the revenue estimates for the upcoming fiscal year beginning July 1 are $37.6 billion if a graduated income tax constitutional amendment passes. That figure drops to $36.4 billion if voters do not approve the change to Illinois’ tax structure.

If voters approve the graduated income tax amendment in November, the rates — which would shift to charge those earning more than $250,000 annually a higher income tax rate — are estimated to generate about $1.2 billion, according to CoGFA. If the public health crisis had not hit, that number would be $286 million higher.

Sales tax estimates were revised downward from March to May by nearly $1.5 billion, to $7.5 billion total for fiscal year 2021.

In a press release, the governor’s office emphasized that the spending plan “maintains funding for critical programs, such as education, health care and human services.”

Funding will remain level from the current year for K-12 education, community colleges and public universities.

“The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the enormous role government plays in keeping communities safe and providing the tools people need to build better lives,” Pritzker said in a statement Wednesday. “While the pandemic has had a devastating impact on our state revenues, investing in our people will allow the state to rebound and recover from this pandemic as we safely re-open. I will continue to advocate for a national program to support state and local governments to make up the difference in the revenues that fund vital services like hospitals and salaries for teachers and first responders.”

According to the governor’s office, more than $5 billion in federal aid — including funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security, or CARES, Act — will be directed to public health, social services, small businesses, local governments and households, including funding earmarked for communities disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.

That includes $270 million in CARES Act funding to supporting child care providers, the governor said at an event in Moline Wednesday.

“And here’s the best part,” Pritzker said at the event. “Because there’s no blueprint for this kind of program, we’re asking providers to tell us how to design the approach that best helps them reopen safely with smaller group sizes, without imposing large tuition increases on families.”

Illinois’ Coronavirus Urgent Remediation Emergency, or CURE, Fund distributes CARES Act dollars, including Business Interruption Grants specifically designed to support businesses that endure lost revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, in partnership with the Illinois Department of Human Services, is charged with developing the grant program for licensed childcare providers. The Child Care Restoration Grants will be administered by the Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, or INCCRRA.

An “Intent to Apply” survey also launched Wednesday to gather information for the development of the grants program, and money is to be released in July. Providers are asked to respond to the survey by 5 p.m. June 19. More information is available at inccrra.org or by clicking here.

Other CARES Act disbursements from the CURE Fund and Local CURE Fund for local governments include: $636 million for small business/child care centers assistance; $458 million for household and community support programs; $830 million for health care providers for pandemic-related stability payments; $250 million to local governments for reimbursements of COVID-19 related costs; and $1.5 billion for state agency COVID-19 related expenses.

The governor’s office also said the budget includes “reductions of operations appropriations of $200 million and another $140 million in transportation funds at the Department of Transportation from the governor’s introduced levels.” Some of those savings is the result of “a continued partial hiring freeze and restricted operations expenditures,” according to the office.

The post Pritzker signs budget, touts spending of federal funds on child care grants first appeared on SJO Daily.

By JERRY NOWICKI
Capitol News Illinois
jnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.com

SPRINGFIELD — A conference call between U.S. governors and Republican President Donald Trump led to the latest in a series of spats between Illinois’ governor and the president Monday.

“You have to dominate, if you don’t dominate you’re wasting your time. They’re going to run over you. You’re going to look like a bunch of jerks. You have to dominate,” Trump told the governors, according to CBS news, which obtained audio recordings of the call.

Trump reportedly admonished the governors for what he deemed a weak response to protests, which were sparked by the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Minneapolis man who died Monday, May 25, after being pinned to the ground for nearly nine minutes with a white police officer’s knee on his neck.

The president called violent and destructive protestors “terrorists,” according to audio of the phone call shared by the New York Times. He said the governors must arrest and charge those protestors with crimes and give them punishments lasting years.

“They’re anarchists, whether you like it or not,” Trump said in the call, according to the Times audio. “I know some of you guys have a different persuasion and that’s OK, I totally understand. I understand. I’m for everybody. I’m representing everybody. I’m not representing radical right, radical left. I’m representing everybody. But you have to know what you’re dealing with, and it’s happened before. It’s happened numerous times. And the only time it’s successful is when you’re weak.”

Last week, Trump posted to Facebook and Twitter that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” He has not formally addressed the nation since Floyd was killed or since widespread protesting began.

“Someone throwing a rock is like shooting a gun,” Trump told the governors in the Monday phone call. “You have to do retribution.”

Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker told the president he took issue with his tone and lack of unifying response.

“I wanted to take this moment — and I can’t let it pass — to speak up and say that I’ve been extraordinarily concerned about the rhetoric that’s been used by you,” Pritzker said, according to a transcript. “It’s been inflammatory, and it’s not okay for that officer to choke George Floyd to death. But we have to call for calm. We have to have police reform called for. We’ve called out our national guard and our state police, but the rhetoric that’s coming out of the White House is making it worse. And I need to say that people are feeling real pain out there and we’ve got to have national leadership in calling for calm and making sure that we’re addressing the concerns of the legitimate peaceful protestors. That will help us to bring order.”

Pritzker, as recently as last week, called Trump a “xenophobe” and a “racist” in a public news conference. Since he ran for governor in 2018, Pritzker has frequently criticized the president, and the pair has sparred about the federal government’s novel coronavirus response.

“Okay well thank you very much JB,” Trump said in response to the governor. “I don’t like your rhetoric much either because I watched it with respect to the coronavirus, and I don’t like your rhetoric much either. I think you could’ve done a much better job, frankly. But that’s okay. And you know, we don’t agree with each other.”

With protests continuing in several Illinois cities Monday, Pritzker hosted a media availability from the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago and addressed the matter upon questioning.

“The truth is that the President has fanned the flames instead of bringing peace and calm,” he said. “It is usually the job of the president to stand up in these circumstances, and try to bring down the temperature, that’s not what this president does.”

He said after about 40 minutes on the call with Trump using what Pritzker deemed to be “inflammatory rhetoric,” he spoke out.

“I wish that the President would hold his words,” Pritzker said. “I wish he would, if he can’t say something that is going to help us across the nation to bring the temperature down, then he shouldn’t say anything at all.”

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When Friday May 29, 2020 arrives, it will have been 74 days since people could gather for a sit-down meal at their favorite restaurant in Illinois.

Still, as Illinois moves into Phase 3 of the Restore Illinois plan, dining out will take on a different atmosphere. Indoor seating will be closed, parties will be limited to six, or fewer, disposable silverware will be provided and waiting areas must be closed.

For some restaurant owners, offering an outdoor dining opportunity is something they are familiar with. Two days before the beginning of Phase 3 has some restaurant owners still wondering how they will be able to make outdoor dining a possibility while others say it is not something they want to deal with.

Mayors in small towns in East Central Illinois have been working with local restaurant owners since Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced seven days ago that restaurants could host outdoor seating.

St. Joseph’s Mayor Tami Fruhling-Voges updated the St. Joseph Board of Trustees on progress Tuesday night. All downtown businesses in St. Joseph, including the seven food vendors located downtown, are allowed to open when Illinois reaches Phase 3.

Fruhling-Voges reported that residents had asked about the possibility of closing down Lincoln St. to accommodate seating for restaurants, but she wanted to keep in mind that customers going to businesses like Chittick Family Eye Care, Wagner’s Sign and Apparel and Salon 192 would also need access to their destination.

She said that even restaurant owners were unsure that offering outdoor seating was the right approach for their business at this time.

Scratch, which was closed for a month, just reopened its doors on May 13. “She wants to keep her curbside, because she’s getting more business from curbside,” Fruhling-Voges. “She doesn’t feel she can manage that outdoor seating situation.”

But other establishments, like El Torro and Geschenk Boutique and Coffee and Tea Haus, are planning to offer an outdoor dining experience.

To accommodate those businesses, the Mayor suggested to the board that Lincoln could become a one-way street, moving from east to west temporarily. She cited that it would slow traffic through that area while also limiting the number of cars traveling down the road, providing a safer situation.

Geschenk will utilize its outdoor space in the back of the building while also setting up coffee tables along the side of the building.

The Village would also accommodate El Toro by giving it a few parking spaces in front of the building while doing the same for Roch’s on the south side of its building.

The Wheelhouse, which offered outdoor dining prior to the pandemic plans to open eight dining tables, offering three seating times at 5:30, 7:00 and 8:30, closing the doors at 10 p.m.

Fruhling-Voges said it is important that there is still room for, and a focus on, curbside for the restaurants that offer it.

“All the businesses seem very willing to compromise and work with one another to allow everybody to take advantage of more opportunities to start bringing in more sales. So, that’s a good thing,” she said.

Additionally, the Village of St. Joseph plans to extend an event liquor license without additional fees to the establishments so that they can serve alcohol outdoors.

“I’m confident that all of our business owners in St. Joseph are responsible and will do all that they can to keep our community safe,” Fruhling-Voges said in an email. “It’s been amazing to see the local support from our residents during this shutdown. I encourage their continued efforts and patience as we navigate our way through this opening process.”

The Village of Mahomet will take a similar approach to its liquor license modifications during the Illinois stay-at-home mandate.

“We are getting creative and trying to support them as much as possible with both the liquor licenses and some, I guess, additional freedoms or relaxing of some things,” Mayor Sean Widener said at a board meeting Tuesday night.

Widener, having come off two meeting with the Reopen Mahomet Restaurants Task Force, which included members of the Mahomet Chamber of Commerce, JT Walker’s owner Justin Taylor, and property owners Jill Guth and Mark Kesler, said that the Village is willing to work with local restaurant owners, particularly those dine-in establishments that had been hardest hit, to find solutions to make the transition to Phase 3 easier.

“I think what you’re gonna see is more sidewalk cafe type of arrangements,” Widener said.

Some restaurants, like JT Walker’s and Project 47, owned by Taylor, are set up for outdoor seating. Taylor said that he will use the outdoor seating areas that they already have, moving a few things around to meet the guidelines.

The only restaurant located in the old downtown Mahomet, Walker’s has a unique situation where they could also put tables on the sidewalk.

“The main thing for this is going to be weather dependent,” Taylor said. “That’s the big problem for a lot of the restaurants; even if they can figure out what to do with outside seating, you have to have staff and have people ready to go, and then if it rains and an hour later it’s super nice out and people start coming out, you’ve got to figure out what you are going to do with your staff.”

While having the opportunity for outdoor seating is exciting for businesses, Taylor said that there is more that is being taken into consideration by restaurant owners.

No matter what the outdoor dining or curbside situation is, all restaurant owners in Illinois have a few more financial worries looming overhead. By July 1, they will be required to pay a $10 minimum wage to employees, a $.75 increase over the $9.25, a $1 increase that was mandated Jan. 1, 2020.

Mahomet Subway’s owner, Satesha Patel said that the road to $15 an hour by 2025 will hit small businesses hard.

“Increased wages are catastrophic for small businesses like ours,” he said. “We are locally owned and operated and the corporate will help with national emergencies and pandemics but when the issues are local, we’re on our own.  So increased wages is not something corporate has propriety on.”

Patel has been working with his landlord, Mark Kesler, to figure out how Subway can offer outdoor seating until customers can eat inside again.

“We will have to purchase new outdoor tables and chairs or benches,” Patel said. “This will be expensive.  I am also trying to figure out if we can do something permanent since we will be investing in the new outdoor furniture.”

The Reopen Mahomet Restaurants Task Force is offering $1,000 grants to dine-in restaurant owners who want to offer outdoor seating to help cover the cost of additional expenses. Widener said that there will be an application process that will go through the Task Force for approval.

According to Village Administrator Patrick Brown, Los Zarapes is working with the building owner Jill Guth to try to offer outdoor seating that will also be ADA compliant. Last week, Los did not plan to host an outdoor dining experience. Brown said that because of the tight schedule, outdoor dining will not be available this weekend.

Brown also said that Breaking Taco is excited about the possibility of expanding its outdoor dining area with the help of the grant.

Filippos, on the other hand, will stick to the no-contact curbside pick-up system it instituted early on in the stay at home order.

“Our priority is safety and making good food,” Brigi Paris said.

Increased food prices and consistency in food availability is something that local restaurant owners have had to deal with over the last nine weeks.

Filippos said that they have not raised their prices much, knowing that everyone is hurting at the moment.

Billy Bob’s of Ogden has had to change its menu prices twice, though, to help cover the costs.

Owner George Woodard wrote a letter to the Champaign County Board, explaining the current state of business.

“The current restrictions in place for in-house dining allows only carry-out orders, and the complete loss of income from bar customers has severely impacted my business hours and our operations are down 33-percent,” Woodard said. “This in turn, caused total receipts to be down 70-percent. Most of my staff is currently laid off, but to keep up with the carry-out business, I still have to keep enough employees on duty to fill orders, this has only resulted in a 24-percent decrease in labor cost.”

Woodard said that the cleaning costs associated with reopening would also cause hardship for his business.

A consistent observation among restaurant owners,Obie’s Artic Chill in Oakwood said that beef prices have doubled and pork prices are near 40-percent more than what they previously were.

Obie’s has also seen an additional $500 per week increase since the first minimum wage increase, saying it will be difficult for businesses to withstand the full increase.

Obie’s will continue to follow the state of IDPH guidelines along with the Vermilion County Public Health District guidelines through cleaning, wearing masks and marking six-feet distance for customers.

Oakwood’s Mayor Clayton Woodard said that his community has taken the COVID Pandemic very seriously.

“The Village of Oakwood has followed the directives of the Governor and will continue to do so to the extent the civil liberties of our residents and business owners are not violated,” Clayton said. “We will make every legal reasonable accommodation necessary within our municipal powers to support our businesses with the continued concern for public health.

“We, as a community, have taken the COVID Pandemic very seriously.  We have tried to be very understanding and compassionate as to the extreme stress this epidemic has placed on our residents, businesses, and employees and first responders.  We are very grateful for the dedication to public service our employees and first responders have displayed during this unprecedented time.”

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SPRINGFIELD – Lawmakers approved a state operating budget shortly before 2 a.m. Sunday, but despite the passage of the document, nothing about the next fiscal year is black and white.

The state is depending on a broad package providing federal monetary aid to states passing through the U.S. Congress, or, failing that, borrowing up to $5 billion from the U.S. Federal Reserve at an interest rate of approximately 3.8 percent.

“Well there’s no doubt that we’re going to have to revisit the budget if the federal government doesn’t come through,” Gov. JB Pritzker said when asked if the state had a plan for a revenue stream to pay back the borrowing. “I think all 50 states are going to have to be revisiting their budgets if the federal government doesn’t come through.”

Pritzker took questions in his office at the Capitol on Sunday morning, about nine hours after the General Assembly adjourned on just its fourth day of legislative session since March 5.

The $42.8 billion budget keeps spending roughly flat from a year ago despite revenue for next year decreasing by an unknown number of billions and the potential of even further economic devastation should COVID-19 see a resurgence in the fall that coincides with a virulent flu season.

“The budget the General Assembly has sent to my desk acknowledges that massive economic disruption leads to difficult decisions,” Pritzker said.

Democrats, upon the bill’s passage, said in times of economic crisis, government needs to continue to spend instead of balancing the budget on the backs of the less fortunate.

Pritzker echoed the argument Sunday.

“There was a strong look at, you know, what could be cut,” Pritzker said. “Remember, though, this was all in the frame of a vastly increased need by families, workers, individuals all across the state.”

Republicans, however, called the budget balanced only on “a wing and a prayer.”

In House debate Saturday, Rep. Tom Demmer, R-Dixon, the GOP’s chief budget negotiator in the House, said there were billions of dollars, including some from the federal CARES Act, to be spent at Pritzker’s discretion with only limited guidance included in the budget.

“The ability for an administration to engage in emergency rulemaking and have control of more than $7 billion of state funds, with only broad strokes, broad umbrellas of programs and allocations for those dollars, I think should give members of this body pause,” Demmer said.

Rep. Gregory Harris, D-Chicago, said during debate the fact that the Legislature passed a full budget instead of a lump sum appropriation showed that it was exercising more oversight than other states were doing for their governors.

But Demmer said the governor’s emergency rulemaking track record – that he sought authority to implement misdemeanor fines for businesses disobeying his stay-at-home order – shows he didn’t earn the public’s trust when it comes to rulemaking.

“This talk about earning the authority, nobody knew a pandemic was coming,” Pritzker said when asked about Republican objections Sunday. “There’s just no way that anybody had any clue that we would be in this situation that we’re in right now.”

He said he would “do anything, give anything” to go back to a pre-COVID-19 level of normalcy.

“But here we are,” he said. “So, I think that there is a recognition anyway that we’re gonna have an unusual year here.”

Asked if he would be comfortable with the authority the Legislature has afforded him being wielded by his former Gov. Bruce Rauner, a Republican, Pritzker said, “no, that’s why I ran against him and beat him.”

“I’m going to try very hard to operate, as I have by the way, with transparency, letting everybody know what we’re doing and also why we’re doing it. And the biggest thing is listening to the science and the data.”

In regard to transparency, Pritzker said the way this year’s budget was negotiated was not ideal. The measure and everything else passed in the four-day session was negotiated by working groups of lawmakers without official avenues for public input.

“I will say that although the public wasn’t able to come in to hearings that the Legislature had, their representatives from both sides of the aisle were in fact in the working groups, it wasn’t a one-sided set of working groups, there were bipartisan groups working on these things.”

Sometimes those groups sought executive branch input, sometimes they didn’t, he said.

While Republicans went into the special session calling for a vote on the governor’s Restore Illinois five-phased business reopening plan and some sort of check on his executive authority and ability to continuously extend disaster proclamations, no such vote occurred.

The closest thing to oversight was passed in a broad-ranging COVID-19 response bill that created a 14-member commission of eight Democrats and six Republicans that would work with the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to discuss the reopening plan.

The commission would be scheduled to release its first report on the reopening plan on July 1, at which time the state could already be entering the fourth phase of the plan.

Republicans called the commission “window dressing.”

“Well, the Legislature has chosen not to be involved in many of the decisions that needed to be made by the executive branch,” Pritzker said when asked about the commission. “And I think, you know, when you think about it – That’s why you have an executive branch in an emergency, I can act quickly. The executive branch can act quickly.”

While he said the General Assembly could not have met quickly enough to have input on his decisions early in the emergency effort, Pritzker said he was hoping the General Assembly would have gathered “much earlier” than last week.

On one particular measure, he said he believed the Legislature fell short. He had asked lawmakers to approve a measure allowing for monetary fines of businesses defying his stay-at-home order.

“I am very disappointed, I think it was a complete abdication of responsibility on the part of the Legislature,” he said, noting the director of the Illinois State Police asked for a measure providing such authority.

“None of us want to exercise the ability to take away someone’s license that’s been given to them by the state to do business. Nobody wants to shut down a business. What we were looking for was a way to issue a citation,” he said.

He said the state would have to “look at other mechanisms” for such enforcement, but he did not say what they are.

The governor said he is also looking at ways to implement the next phases of the plan and is considering issuing a fourth consecutive 30-day disaster proclamation.

“We want to make sure we can implement the Restore Illinois plan, and that we’re taking care that the health and safety of the people of Illinois is paramount, so we’re looking at it,” he said.

The governor also announced the release of broad guidance for industries reopening under phase 3 of his plan. That is viewable here: https://www2.illinois.gov/dceo/pages/restoreILP3.aspx.

The post Despite budget approval, much is in limbo after session first appeared on SJO Daily.

CARES Act funding

The post Lawmakers pass budget package to close out special session first appeared on SJO Daily.

By PETER HANCOCK
Capitol News Illinois
phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com

SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Employment Security has confirmed that a new online portal that processes claims for federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance briefly allowed public access to applicants’ personal information including Social Security numbers.

The PUA system, which went online May 11, is a federal program that provides unemployment benefits to gig workers and other independent contractors who are not normally covered by regular unemployment insurance.

The data breach was first made public Saturday when state Rep. Terri Bryant, a Murphysboro Republican, said in a news release that she had been alerted to the issue by a constituent the previous day.

“Through a series of just two clicks, this constituent stumbled upon the personal information of thousands of unemployment applicants on the IDES website,” Bryant said. “This came up in a spreadsheet with thousands of names containing sensitive information. The information she was able to access included the name, address, Social Security number, and unemployment claimant ID number of thousands of people.”

In a statement Monday, IDES said its analysis found that one PUA claimant had “inadvertently” accessed personal data for a limited number of claimants.

“That claimant notified the department of the issue and within an hour, it was corrected to prevent any future unauthorized access,” the agency said.

The state of Illinois contracted with the international business services company Deloitte to build and maintain the web-based portal. IDES said it is now working with the company to run a “full-scale investigation” into the problem while conducting additional tests to prevent any future data breaches. It also said it is working to notify affected individuals and will release the analysis of its investigation once it’s completed.

Asked about the issue during his daily COVID-19 briefing Monday in Chicago, Gov. JB Pritzker said similar issues have occurred elsewhere in the public and private sectors but that the state and Deloitte were working to resolve the problem.

“This, as you know, has happened in large corporations and other aspects of other governments around the United States, and we don’t like it happening here,” Pritzker said. “Deloitte, which built that system, and obviously the glitch that was in there is something that was a result of the work that was done to build it, but they are offering credit reporting for all of those who are affected by it to make sure that they can monitor their credit in case there’s any problem they may undergo.”

Meanwhile, IDES still encourages people covered by the program to continue filing for benefits through the PUA portal. The agency said more than 50,000 claims have been processed through the system so far. The program provides up to 39 weeks’ worth of benefits for qualifying workers who have COVID-19-related claims.

People with questions or who need help with unemployment benefits are encouraged to visit IDES.Illinois.gov.

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Owners could be charged with a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by a fine between $75 and $2,500. Less than a year of jail time is also a possibility.

Currently under Phase 2 of Pritzker’s Restore Illinois plan, restaurants are allowed to be open for delivery, pickup, and drive-through only. Health care facilities and salons are to remain closed until Phase 3 where barbershops and salons can open with IDPH approved safety guidance; health and fitness clubs can provide outdoor classes and one-on-one personal training with IDPH approved safety guidance.

According to WTTW, “Pritzker’s cabinet described it as a new and gentler “tool” that law enforcement can use to keep businesses closed during the coronavirus pandemic – and therefore keep people safe – that’s less severe than other options, like closure orders or stripping establishments of their liquor licenses.”

County state attorney’s offices would be responsible to carry out prosecution of violations.

WTTW also reports that Pritzker’s attorney, Ann Spillane, said the misdemeanor charge can be intimidating, but owners are not being handcuffed or arrested, rather given a citation to go to court.

Only business owners would be cited, not their employees.

Republican lawmakers, including Dan McConchie, a member of the Senate’s Public Health Committee, released statements and spoke out via Twitter, stating that Pritzker had overstepped his powers in placing the possibility of a charge on the small business owners.

“This is a clear breach of the separation of powers,” McConchie wrote. “It is the role of the legislature to make the law, and the role of the Governor to enforce it. He has assumed both roles and shut out the legislative branch. It is beyond time for the Governor to stop ruling by fiat.”

“This week, the legislature must reassert control over the executive branch and return control of the state to the people by providing oversight of his emergency powers once and for all.”

Illinois lawmakers return to Springfield for a three-day special session from May 20-22.

Senate Minority Leader Bill Brady (Republican-Bloomington) wrote, “This is exactly why our caucus has asked for public hearings into the governor’s plan and why the legislature needs to be involved in the decision making process during these unprecedented times.”

During daily press briefings, Pritzker has repeatedly been questioned on his plan to enforce the guidelines set forth in Restore Illinois. Pritzker has said that the policies set in place are to be enforced by local governments and law enforcement.

While Pritzker has not mentioned the Class A Misdemeanor charge during a press conference, he did say that certain measures could be enforced at the state level.

“Counties that try to reopen in defiance will not be reimbursed by FEMA for damage they cause themselves. Local law enforcement and the Illinois State Police can and will take action,” Pritzker said on Wednesday. “Businesses and individual professionals that are licensed by state agencies can be held accountable for defying public health orders.”

Some local state’s attorneys like Piatt County’s Dana Rhoades have made announcements that they do not plan to take action against local businesses.

“I am notifying Piatt County citizens that it is not my intention as the Piatt County State’s Attorney to file criminal charges against such businesses or churches that reopen within Piatt County, when sufficient social distancing protocols are in place, including face covering, disinfecting, and other safety protocols as set forth by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

“The decision to reopen a business is not without potential significant risk in terms of civil liability and licensure revocation. For these reasons, I strongly encourage any business or church contemplating reopening to seek legal counsel.”

Lawmakers on the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules will have the opportunity to review Pritzker’s rule on Wednesday.

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The updated model, developed by the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, Northwestern University’s School of Medicine, University of Chicago, is the result of adding two-and-a-half weeks of data. 

“The essence of models is that they get smarter over time,” Pritzker said. 

Earlier models had Illinois experiencing a peak in late April or early May.

“In many ways, this news is disheartening,” Pritzker said. “Pushing the peak down, and to a longer time frame, might not sound like good news to some, but I promise you, it is saving lives.”

Despite the extension of Illinois’ peak, Pritzker said that the three of the  four regions established in the “Restore Illinois” plan are currently on pace to move to Phase 3 by the end of the month.

“That is under our current Phase 2 mitigations,” Pritzker said. 

“There are those who advocate, removing all restrictions now, or at the end of this month, rather than taking the gradual course that our restore Illinois plan does. If we were to lift all of our mitigations entirely at the end of the month. Modeling shows that there would be a new surge of COVID-19, and a higher are not in each of the four regions, even in the least hard hit regions of our state.

Pritzker promised to share the numbers from each region once a week during Monday’s press conference. 

All regions, except the Northeast region, which includes Cook, McHenry, Lake, Kane, DuPage, Kendall, Grundy, Will and Kankakee counties, are meeting all the benchmarks for moving to Phase 3. 

According to the Restore Illinois plan, each region has to meet the following requirements to move into the next phase:

• At or under a 20 percent positivity rate and increasing no more than 10 percentage points over a 14-day period, AND; 
• No overall increase (i.e. stability or decrease) in hospital admissions for COVID-19-like illness for 28 days, AND; 
• Available surge capacity of at least 14% of ICU beds, medical and surgical beds, and ventilators.

The Northeast region of Illinois currently has a 22.3%, positivity rate, which is of course higher than the 20% cap on this metric.

“This positivity rate cap will be measured over a 14-day period. So there’s time for the Northeast region to fall below this cap,” he said.

The North Central Region is sitting at 9.1%, currently, while the central region at 6.0%, and the southern region at 10.5%.

All of the regions have seen a decrease in hospitalizations since May 1st. The Northest region saw a 18.6% dip in the Northeast region, 35.8%decrease in the North-Central region, 44.4% decrease in the Central region, and 54.3% decrease in the Southern region.

Likewise, all regions meet the requirement of available surge capacity of at least 14% of ICU beds, medical and surgical beds, and ventilators available. 

The Northeast has 17.8% of ICU bed availability, 18.8% of bed availability and 64.3% of ventilators available. The North Central region has 41.1% of ICU availability, 40.6% bed availability and 64.9% of ventilator availability.

The Central Region has 44.2% of ICU bed availability, 52.4% of bed availability and 74.6% of ventilators available. The Southern region has 28% of ICU availability, 45.8% bed availability and 80.7% of ventilator availability.

A requirement to move forward to next phase is that a region sees no overall increase, rather stability or a decrease, in hospital admissions for COVID-like illness across a 28-day period.

As of midnight May 8, all four regions met the third requirement of available surge capacity of at least 14 percent for ICU beds, medical/surgical beds, and ventilators.

“Remember that no one can truly stop this virus, without a vaccine,” Pritzker said. “But what we’ve been aiming to do since early March is slow down the exponential rate of transmission. When we do that, it leads to a slower rate of infections, over a longer period of time, giving our healthcare system, the ability to treat those who have complications and giving our pharmaceutical researchers, time to develop effective treatments and potentially a vaccine.”

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