Sen. Jil Tracy | Facebook
Sen. Jil Tracy | Facebook
Sen. Jil Tracy (R-Quincy) fails to see the logic in House Bill 1167.
"It’s not fair to pit teachers against each other by giving different benefits based on their vaccination status," Tracy said.
The measure that passed both the House and Senate on March 31, seeks to provide paid administrative leave for fully vaccinated teachers who had to take time off related to COVID-19. The bill would be applied retroactively to the 2021-2022 school year.
In a post to her website, Tracy further criticized the proposed legislation by pointing to the way the General Assembly previously passed bipartisan legislation to help teachers who had used up their sick time due to strict quarantine rules, only to see the measure vetoed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
HB 1167 is poised to take effect immediately upon signing, and teachers will have roughly five weeks after that to get the required doses and be considered fully vaccinated.
Critics of the legislation like Tracy have condemned it as a “backdoor vaccine mandate,” which many question the necessity given COVID numbers are on the decline for now.
Mask mandates ended in Illinois in February and March for many, although there are still places where masks are required, such as when riding public transportation.
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