Illinois lawmakers appear to be breaking from Governor J.B. Pritzker’s mask mandate for public schools.
The Joint Committee on Administrative Rules or JCAR, made up of a bi-partisan group of General Assembly members voted to object to the Illinois Department of Public Health filing a repeat emergency rule last night to extend the school mask mandate regardless of the ongoing litigation in Sangamon County Court brought against over 140 school districts in the state.
The refiled rule would have forced every school district not named in the suit to enforce masks.
According to Mark Maxwell of WCIA, approximately 1 hour ago, JCAR voted to object to the IDPH emergency rule.
Democrats Mike Halpin, Fran Hurley, and Curtis Tarver joined Republicans on JCAR in opposition to the filing. According to Maxwell, the ruling by JCAR now effects 350 school districts in the state who have not made a local decision on a mask policy since Sangamon County Judge Raylene Grischow issued a temporary restraining order on the mask mandate for the 140 school districts named in the Sangamon County suit last month.