A rule that would have penalized businesses for opening with a misdemeanor during the stay at home order has been withdrawn. The Joint Committee On Administrative Rules or JCAR did not vote on it, as Governor JB Pritzker and the IDPH withdrew their emergency order requesting that businesses get charged for opening early.
Co-Chairman Senator Bill Cunningham made the announcement during the JCAR meeting that was postponed nearly 3 hours for pre meetings. Senator Cunningham asked IDPH Chief of Staff of Public Health Justin Dewitt and Joann Olson Deputy Chief of Staff for Public Health whether they were going to withdraw the emergency order.
The rule was originally amended so that business owners could have been charged with a Class A misdemeanor for violating a closure order. The order took effect on Friday and owners could have faced a fine of $2,500 and a year in prison. The order would have been in effect for 150 days.
Instead, the order has been repealed by the Department of Public Health and will not be in effect.
The meeting was quite popular as normally only about 50-60 people view it on the live stream. Today’s live stream had at some points over 4,000 people viewing it. Governor Pritzker announced at his daily press conference, he is hoping to push through legislation for phases with rules for staying at home.
