* WBEZ…
Meanwhile, the progress toward getting more of the state workforce vaccinated came as legislation surfaced to tighten a decades-old state law so that it can’t be used to evade state and local vaccination mandates.
The measure sponsored by state Rep. Robyn Gabel, D-Evanston, would amend the state Health Care Right of Conscience Act, which offers liability protections for medical practitioners unwilling to perform abortions or offer contraception on moral grounds.
The law has been cited increasingly by educators and police officers trying to defend against potential job losses over their philosophical objections to being forced to be vaccinated for COVID-19 by their government employers.
Gabel’s amendment would explicitly note that the law does not offer protections for those wanting to invoke it to sidestep mandated COVID-19 vaccinations and empower governments to terminate workers who don’t comply with vaccination orders.
Despite Pritzker’s backing, its prospects this week are hazy, and Gabel did not immediately respond to WBEZ for comment.
A spokeswoman for House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, stopped short of predicting passage Monday but said he “supports getting it done” and is “ready to listen and compromise.”
* Subscribers know much more about this caucus and what happened afterward, but here’s Politico…
If the fireworks that erupted in yesterday’s House Democratic Caucus meeting are any indication, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s amendment to the Health Care Right of Conscience Act is in trouble. […]
During caucus meeting Monday, Rep. Mary Flowers spoke passionately about how the amendment would target the state’s poorest residents.
Flowers said amending the law would primarily affect working-class residents who have to get up and go out every day to their jobs. Employees working in the corporate world or who have office jobs that allow them to work at home aren’t likely to be affected by Pritzker’s amendment, Flowers told caucus members, according to folks in the room.
Lawmakers are also frustrated that they haven’t heard from Pritzker or his “well-paid deputy governors” to better explain why they should vote for the amendment.
Because the measure would take effect immediately, it needs 71 votes to pass, and the buzz is that those votes just aren’t there.
How we’ll know: The bill will only be called if the numbers add up.
This isn’t really about deputy governors. This is about people believing some very weird stuff or being unclear on what the bill is intended to do.
* The opposition is very small, but very well organized and intense…
*** UPDATE 1 *** Another one…
A suburban judge granted a temporary restraining order to a group of nurses who sued Riverside Healthcare over the hospital system’s vaccine mandate.
Kankakee County Judge Nancy Nicholson granted the temporary restraining order until Nov. 19. She will then hold a hearing on a motion for a preliminary injunction requested by the nurses.
Liberty Justice Center Managing Attorney Daniel Suhr said the ruling was a win.
“Today’s ruling marks an important step toward victory for these nurses – and it sends a signal to all Americans about the importance of fighting for your rights,” he said. “Employers and government officials should take note that forcing people to violate their conscience not only is wrong, it’s illegal. No one should be forced to choose between keeping their job and sacrificing their beliefs.”
The nurses sued Riverside Healthcare on Oct. 13 claiming the state’s Health Care Right of Conscience Act gives them the right to refuse the COVID-19 vaccine. The nurses said their religious beliefs conflict with getting the vaccine.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Greg Hinz made some calls…
The blow-up occurred in a caucus of House Democrats when several Black lawmakers came out against the bill, with Rep. Mary Flowers, D-Chicago, alleging at one point that the same “synthetic” ingredients used to produce crack cocaine are used in making COVID vaccinations.
The Black members later met with Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, who tried to convince them the intent of the freedom of conscious act is being abused. I hear different things about whether Raoul’s pitch worked. We’ll find out when and if the bill is called for a vote before the veto session’s scheduled end on Thursday.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 9:14 am:
Angry social media is dangerous and toxic to the health of our society, mental and physical, example 2,517
- Chris - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 9:15 am:
With COVID numbers going down and 30k residents voicing opposition, don’t pass this bill. We could be done with COVID fairly soon.
- Ron Burgundy - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 9:24 am:
Sounds like they are botching the messaging, but the law does need to be amended to get back to its original intent. It was poorly drafted to begin with and was never intended to cover everyone in the state. As for the fact that 30K anti-vaxxers have signed up in opposition, who cares?
- Ron Burgundy - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 9:28 am:
-We could be done with COVID fairly soon.-
We’d be done faster if those 30K people got shots.
- Flyin' Elvis'-Utah Chapter - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 9:31 am:
Chris-
Covid19, Delta variant, Delta variant plus-
Noticing a pattern?
- MG85 - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 9:42 am:
==This isn’t really about deputy governors.==
So because we disagree with wacky opinions, the governor shouldn’t lobby for his own bill to change a law that he said from the start wouldn’t prevent him from doing what he wanted on the pandemic front?
What an odd take. Leaders lead and losers lose. Instead of blaming Flowers, the Gov should whip votes. If his bill doesn’t pass, then he wasn’t convincing to a super majority of his own party.
- Give Me A Break - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 9:47 am:
“30k residents voicing opposition”. There are over 12.5 million people in Illinois. What else ya got?
- Blueman - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 9:47 am:
The co-equal branch of government doesn’t want to take co-equal responsibility when it comes to actual leadership that requires tough decisions. Shocking.
- Cheryl44 - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 9:48 am:
I told my 89 year old mother I will be skipping the holidays again this year because I don’t think we’ll be done with the disease by then. And I blame the Darren Baileys of the world for that.
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 9:51 am:
===So because we disagree with wacky opinions, the governor shouldn’t lobby for his own bill===
Who said that???
Try taking a breath.
- Count Floyd - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 9:55 am:
Someone in state government should have recognized this law as a problem much earlier. An amendment to it before it started circulating in the anti-vax and right wing circles would have been an easier pass.
While clearly not meant for vaccine skeptics this law is drafted very broadly and protects them (in my opinion).
Its disheartening that our own elected leaders seem to not know what’s in the ILCS.
- Chicago Cynic - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 9:58 am:
“We could be done with COVID fairly soon.”
This is a dangerously uninformed opinion by someone trying to rationalize bad behavior. We would have been largely done if the anti-vax anti-science crowd had been less successful convincing an army of gullible conspiracy aficionados to ignore science and listen to morons on Facebook who know better than the experts.
- Amalia - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 10:06 am:
we do not know when we will be done with this pandemic, nor do we adequately understand the virus. but we can help eradicate it….mask up, vax up.
- Club J - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 10:08 am:
We this sure had Tom DeVore fired up last night. He had another Facebook Live event just to school everyone about how evil this is and to fill out the witness slips. He did slide in if you agree fill one out also, but I don’t know any of those folks.
His followers the 100’s of thousands according to them that are backing this lawsuit want him to FOIA the Governor’s itinerary for this past weekend. He was in Macoupin County and they think he was paying off the Judge. Oh the things they come up with.
- thechampaignlife - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 10:09 am:
===30k residents voicing opposition===
Who said they live here, or that they even exist? For all we know, those were generated by a Russian bot farm.
The whole witness slip thing boggles my mind. What a useless, horribly biased metric to consider. If you want to know what the average person thinks of a bill, you need a well-conducted opinion poll. If you want to know what affected stakeholders think of a bill, you need to hear from their advocacy groups (i.e., lobbyists). If you want to hear what Facebook thinks, witness slips will do the trick.
- Candy Dogood - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 10:10 am:
I guess the fact that the law was intended to protect bigots and deprive people of the medical care that is their basic human rights will be a problem that has to be addressed by the next generation of politicians.
===We could be done with COVID fairly soon===
I concur with Chicago Cynic. We’re at a point where we’re going to have seasonal/constant COVID-19 until there is a mutation that really slams us in the face.
- Interesting - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 10:13 am:
=Its disheartening that our own elected leaders seem to not know what’s in the ILCS.=
Literally spit out my morning beverage to that one. Then you are one seriously disheartened soul.
- Chris - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 10:14 am:
Redistricting, school board meetings, and the Chicago police challenges are controversial enough. We don’t need to change a conscience protection law over the objection of these people. Vaccinated people are pretty safe, so the unvaccinated are taking on most of the risk themselves. Not everyone is an early adopter. Some people wait longer.
- Just Me 2 - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 10:15 am:
While I understand (but don’t agree) with those against vaccine requirements in the workplace, I just don’t understand those who won’t get tested to ensure they aren’t spreading a contagious disease for which there is no magical solution.
What about their coworkers who have vulnerable immune systems who now have to decide if it is safe to come to work?
- thisjustinagain - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 10:15 am:
I’d like to invite the 30K to a massive mask free, vaccine free, tightly packed, standing-room-only party and let Nature take its course afterwards. But they will simply spread it to innocent victims of their stupidity. Time for mandatory vaccination and be done with it. Jacobson v. Mass, SCOTUS 1905 said it was constitutional.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 10:30 am:
=Literally spit out my morning beverage to that one. Then you are one seriously disheartened soul.=
Interested- No I just don’t understand. If the Governor or his staff knew of the existence of this law they had to have known it would be a problem in the enforcement of vaccine mandates. What is the explanation for waiting until now to try to address this problem?
- Count Floyd - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 10:30 am:
Last Anonymous there was me
- Club J - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 10:31 am:
I know you say stay off Facebook Rich. This is what starts the hysteria and gets the 30k witness slips signed. One hour ago from DeVore.
See attached. They might try and play some game here, but unless they get a super majority, this nonsense could never take effect until next year. They are trying to somehow spin it that it isn’t an amendment to the law but somehow is just clarifying it. We’ve never seen this kind of gamesmanship before. Watch these parasites closely my friends!!!
He has a picture of 5ILCS. 75/2 (from chapter 1 paragraph 1202). Already 64 shares and multiple comments. He gets these loose cannons out there going crazy over something he’s dreamed up in his head. Last night a fella said let’s stay up all night and contact all our friends to fill out a slip.
The next post was DeVore buying his girlfriends child a brand new four wheeler. I’m like hey people this is where your money went.
- Donnie Elgin - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 10:33 am:
“If you want to hear what Facebook thinks, witness slips will do the trick”
Not agreeing for/against the bill. But equating a witness slips to Facebook is bogus. Facebook is ubiquitous and you can post in about a second. Witness slips actually take time, and as with all things related to state government, it is not a polished/smooth process to get the witness slip done. I think it is very impressive that there were 30K in such a short period of time.
- MisterJayEm - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 10:37 am:
“If the Governor or his staff knew of the existence of this law they had to have known it would be a problem in the enforcement of vaccine mandates. What is the explanation for waiting until now to try to address this problem?”
They didn’t presume that a mindless death cult would activity oppose basic public health measures?
– MrJM
- OneMan - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 10:39 am:
== Interested- No I just don’t understand. If the Governor or his staff knew of the existence of this law they had to have known it would be a problem in the enforcement of vaccine mandates. What is the explanation for waiting until now to try to address this problem? ==
Because no one really thought about using the law this way, the law is basically around to make it so you can’t lose your job at a medical facility (or your license) because you refuse to assist with the performance of a procedure.
If people had thought this was a ‘get out of testing free’ card, it would have been used that way years ago for everything from insurance physicals to blood and breath tests for DUI to the TB test you have to take before you take some healthcare jobs.
- Slowmotiontrainwreck - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 10:41 am:
- 30K to a massive mask free, vaccine free, tightly packed, standing-room-only party -
You mean like every football stadium in the country every weekend? Have you seen all of those superspreaders? Yeah, neither did I.
- Thomas Paine - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 10:56 am:
=== We could be done with COVID fairly soon ===
That’s delusional.
Wishing doesn’t make it so.
The virus is in charge. It says “Do this, or I’ll do that.”
There will be another outbreak after the holidays.
If we are 90-95% vaccinated, it will be mild. Otherwise, COVID will be what COVID does.
But this is not just about beating the pandemic, it’s about restoring the economy. We need to restore people’s faith that when they go to a restaurant, an event, or check into a hotel that they are reasonably safe, and they have that right. That’s untrue when you have high numbers of unvaccinated people present and the disease is being widely transmitted in the community.
- Pundent - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 11:02 am:
=Vaccinated people are pretty safe, so the unvaccinated are taking on most of the risk themselves.=
Well right now that includes kids. And not just those under the age of 12, but those under 18 years as well that live in a home with antivax parents who can’t see beyond their political beliefs and Facebook research.
But beyond that you don’t seem to understand how viruses work. Maybe they don’t teach that on Facebook. Fewer vaccinated people means the virus will continue to mutate. And a mutating virus continues to put all of us at risk.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 11:31 am:
=== more than likely===
That’s quite the scientific pronouncement. Ugh
===What else needs to happen to get back to Normal===
Get the vaccine.
- thechampaignlife - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 12:06 pm:
===Facebook is ubiquitous and you can post in about a second. Witness slips actually take time===
Sure, it takes all of a 45 seconds to complete a witness slip form when a handy link is shared on Facebook (https://my.ilga.gov/WitnessSlip/Create/133801?committeeHearingId=18832&LegislationId=133801&LegislationDocumentId=172397&CommitteeHearings-page=1&_=1635267588005). Even faster if you have auto-fill enabled in your browser.
But, again, a bot farm could crank out 30K slips in milliseconds. The numbers literally mean nothing unless you can establish that a real human who will be affected by this legislation submitted it.
- Just Me 2 - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 12:14 pm:
While I respect Rep. Flowers for her continued passion to help minorities, it is worth also mentioning that minorities are disproportionately impacted by this pandemic. On a related note, Many workers have underlying health conditions and the vaccine is not as effective, and they are afraid to go to work for fear they’ll catch COVID through exposure by people not taking the pandemic seriously. If we can make their work environment safer they will have more options.
- JS Mill - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 12:16 pm:
Mary Flowers is the constant reminder that the ILGOP does not have an exclusive on crazy.
@chris- maybe go to the Google for a lesson on why variants exist. Spoiler alert- the unvaccinated.
- Norseman - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 1:06 pm:
I still remember Maty Flowers opposing a smoking cessation program in her district because smoking was one of the few pleasures for her constituents. Her short-sightedness doesn’t help her community. It exacerbates health problems that are preventable, now including COVID.
Right now Flowers is playing it easy to ensure re-election. A true leader would be working on educating her community to the benefits of public health measures. Reaching out to the community to try and respond to disparities in the incidence of the disease doesn’t help if their community political leaders simply pander to their fears and pleasures.
- jessewhite.tumblr.com - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 1:14 pm:
Craig Wilcox is also asking for witness slips against the amendment…http://mchenrycountyblog.com/2021/10/25/wilcox-asks-for-electronic-witness-slips-on-bill-to-radically-amend-right-of-conscience-law/#comments
(The comment section on that site is, predictably, a dumpster fire)
- A Man With. Question - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 1:14 pm:
=But, again, a bot farm could crank out 30K slips in milliseconds. The numbers literally mean nothing unless you can establish that a real human who will be affected by this legislation submitted it.=
You could say this about literally every component of the democratic system. At every point we encourage folks to get involved in the political system. When they do on mass, you discount them because they are on the wrong side of the issue. I mean Russian bots are you serious? What could Russia or any of its intelligence apparatus possibly care about the success of a vaccine mandate in Illinois when they already have a universal mandate of their own? Please don’t say to weaken us strategically, you need to stick to Tom Clancy novels.
Also, I can guarantee that the almost 42,000 it is up to now, is just a drop in the bucket of folks that are against this amendment.
- HARO - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 1:44 pm:
It’s not just anti-vax FB groups. The Champaign County GOP sent an email blast earlier urging members to file a slip before 3:30. So incredibly disappointing.
- JS Mill - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 1:57 pm:
=Right now Flowers is playing it easy to ensure re-election. A true leader would be working on educating her community=
Mary forgets, or more likely ignores the fact, that her district reaches out to the western suburbs like Willow Springs and Burr Ridge. Her district is very diverse.
- MZ - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 2:44 pm:
Seeing all the witness slips against it has me thinking that there are many who have been indoctrinated into a literal death cult. I understand the who evangelical apocalypse cult that’s infected the right but being against something that can quite literally save your life seems more along the lines of a death cult.
- Lurker - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 2:47 pm:
Dear Governor, until you can tell your own employees, vaccinate or your fired, how can you tell others that is the right thing to do?
(And for clarification, he should say this but reinforce your own &$@@ glass house first)
- Ron Burgundy - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 3:41 pm:
To the second update: “alleging at one point that the same “synthetic” ingredients used to produce crack cocaine are used in making COVID vaccinations.”
Now some of the opposition is officially in full-blown crazy territory.
- Bannockburn Toad - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 4:21 pm:
Where is the great Deputy Governor Christian Mitchell??
- Coming Up Daisies - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 4:54 pm:
Its hard to think of a list of advocates forca bill where the Hospital Association is the one that Flowers likes best.
- Former Merit Comp - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 5:39 pm:
I found it interesting that all the folks I saw posting opinions (and a link to the witness slip) on the bill were either from the FOP or Republicans lawmakers. Never saw any posts from proponents anywhere.
- thechampaignlife - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 5:54 pm:
===You could say this about literally every component of the democratic system.===
Nope, just the uncontrolled ones. We vet voters. We know who called or showed up in person, or at least that they were real. Literally anyone or anything can fill out a witness slip using any name, even real names obtained from the myriad data leaks.
===you discount them because they are on the wrong side of the issue===
Nope. It does not matter the issue. Witness slip metrics are a horrible way of gauging support no matter the issue. If it were 42K in support of the amendment, I would think the same thing.
===What could Russia or any of its intelligence apparatus possibly care about the success of a vaccine mandate in Illinois===
I never said it was them, or that it was being done here, just that it could be and we have no way to know. At least make me input my voter ID number, or text me a code to verify I am real.
===the almost 42,000 it is up to now, is just a drop in the bucket===
I bet it is. I bet the number is around 5.3M Illinoisans, because Gallup reports 42% of Americans oppose a mandate. But guess what? That means 7.3M Illinoisans support it. See, now isn’t a reputable poll much more reliable than an arbitrary number of people who took 45 seconds to click a link that was shared by social media pages that specialize in firing up people over hot button issues?
- Just Me 2 - Tuesday, Oct 26, 21 @ 7:58 pm:
Can Rep. Flowers please share her source?