The Sentinel

Two weeks of executive orders issued by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker in response to the Coronavirus pandemic

In the last two weeks, Gov. J.B. Pritzker has issued a series of executive orders in response to the spread of the COVID-19 virus in Illinois.

These executive orders have limited the size of public gatherings, suspended enforcement of certain laws and agency operations, and closed schools and nonessential businesses in an effort to slow the spread of the virus and prevent the state’s health care system from being inundated with severely ill patients. The governors of New York, California, and Ohio have issued similar executive orders.

But where do those executive powers come from? And what is or isn’t allowed?

While the federal government is a government of enumerated powers – it can only exercise the powers specifically granted to it by the U.S. Constitution – state governments retain what is known as “police powers” to protect the welfare, safety and health of their residents, in keeping with the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

This system means that states have more flexibility to act without running up against constitutional barriers. It also means states, not the federal government, have the power to tighten or loosen the restrictions ordered by state governors.

The governor’s authority to issue the recent series of COVID-19 executive orders comes from Section 7 of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act. In the case of a disaster such as a viral epidemic, the governor can issue a proclamation declaring that disaster, allowing him to exercise the emergency powers authorized in the act for a period of up to 30 days. State and local police can work together to enforce orders given under these emergency powers.

Pritzker declared a statewide disaster on March 9, triggering his emergency powers. He began issuing a series of executive orders a few days later.

Pritzker’s emergency powers include but are not limited to the following, which have been cited in the governor’s orders thus far:

To suspend any provisions of regulatory statute that would prevent, hinder or delay necessary action by the state or state agencies.

To utilize all available resources of the state government reasonably necessary to cope with the disaster.

To redirect state departments or agencies toward disaster response purposes.

To control the movement of persons and occupancy of premises within the disaster area.

To provide temporary emergency housing.

To control, restrict, and regulate the use, sale, or distribution of food, feed, fuel, clothing and other commodities, materials, goods, or services.

Pritzker is not the first Illinois governor to invoke the Emergency Management Agency Act. For example, former Gov. George Ryan twice made use of the provisions of Section 9 that allowed him to transfer money to the Illinois Emergency Management Agency after a tornado hit Centralia, Illinois, in 2002.

Here is a timeline of Pritzker’s executive orders so far:

March 12:
COVID-19 Executive Order No. 1:

Extends the application deadlines for cannabis growers, infusers, and transporters to March 30, 2020

March 13:
COVID-19 Executive Order No. 2:

Cancels all public and private gatherings of 1,000 people or more

Closes the Thompson Center to the general public

Suspends the two-year continuous service requirement for state employees to receive advancement of sick leave

COVID-19 Executive Order No. 3:

Closes all public and private K-12 schools through March 30

Suspends definition of student “chronic absences” so that it will not include absences due to COVID-19 closures and absences

Suspends the requirement that school districts gain approval for the implementation of e-learning programs

March 15:
COVID-19 Executive Order No. 4:

Clarifies that the closure of schools does not close the buildings for food provision or noneducational purposes like polling places

March 16:
COVID-19 Executive Order No. 5:

All bars and restaurants must cease all on-premises consumption through March 30 (later extended)

Prohibits all public and private gatherings of 50 people or more

Suspends one-week waiting period for unemployment claims

Suspends Open Meetings Act requirement that members of a public body must be physically present. Encourages postponing official government business when possible, and when conducting government business can’t be postponed, making video and phone access available to the public

March 17:
COVID-19 Executive Order No. 6:

Suspends expiration of vehicle registration, driver’s licenses, parking decals, state ID cards and related proceedings

Suspends filing requirements for statements of economic interest by certain public officials and state employees under governmental ethics laws

March 19:
COVID-19 Executive Order No. 7:

Mandates health insurance issuers regulated by the Department of Insurance cover the costs of in-network telehealth services

March 20:
COVID-19 Executive Order No. 8:
Orders residents to stay at home, barring exceptions such as essential travel for essential work or supplies, exercise and recreation, through April 7.

Defines essential businesses, operations and government functions that are exempt from the order

Reduces allowable public and private gathering size to no more than 10 people

Orders all law enforcement officers to cease enforcing eviction orders for residential premises

March 23:
COVID-19 Executive Order No. 9:

Suspends requirement that Department of Corrections provide relevant state’s attorney’s office 14 days’ notice before an inmate receives an early release for good conduct and replaces with requirement that notice be provided as far in advance as possible or as quickly as possible

Makes several minor revisions, clarifications or additions to previous executive orders

March 24:
COVID-19 Executive Order No. 10:

Suspends prohibition on hiring nursing assistants who are inactive on the Healthcare Worker Registry if they meet certain criteria

Extends the conditional employment period for nurse assistants pending fingerprinting/criminal background check

Suspends provision requiring 30-day written notice from the Department of Juvenile Justice before a youth inmates target release date and replaces with requirement that the department notify the state’s attorney’s office of release dates with as much advance notice as possible or as quickly as possible

Suspends requirement that Miners’ Examining Board hold an exam once every month

March 26: COVID-19 Executive Order No. 11:

Suspends all admissions to the Illinois Department of Corrections from all Illinois county jails, with exceptions at the sole discretion of the Director of the Illinois Department of Corrections for limited essential transfers

COVID-19 Executive Order No. 12:

Allows two-way audio-video communication to satisfy the requirement that a person must “appear” before a Notary Public

Allows any act of witnessing required by Illinois law may be completed remotely by via two-way audio-video communication if the communication meets certain requirements

Allows all legal documents to be signed in counterparts by witnesses and signatory absent an express prohibition, and sets out specific procedures when the signing requires a Notary Public

March 27:
COVID-19 Executive Order No. 13:

Suspends requirements on the administration of assessments, school terms, and the calculation of daily pupil attendance

Allows ISBE to implement rules regarding remote learning

Permits the use of early childhood block grant funding to provide child care for children of employees performing essential work

Any bids received by a school district for construction purposes may be communicated and accepted electronically

March 28:
COVID-19 Executive Order No. 14:

Suspends provisions of the vehicle code regarding repossession of vehicles

Allows training for Private Detective, Private Alarm, Private Security, Fingerprinting Vendor, and Locksmith Acts to be completed through online instruction COVID-19 Executive Order No. 15:

Further Extends the deadlines for previously extended cannabis-related licenses to April 30

Directs Department of Agriculture to accept all craft grower, infuser, and transporter license applications post-marked on or before April 30, 2020 via certified US Mail

April 1:
COVID-19 Executive Order No. 16:

Extends previous executive orders to last until April 30

COVID-19 Executive Order No. 17:

Directs that elective surgeries be cancelled or postponed

Protects health care facilities, professionals, and volunteers from from civil liability for any injury or death alleged, unless caused by gross negligence or willful misconduct

April 6:
COVID-19 Executive Order No. 18:

Allows a verbal attestation documented by the State constitutes a valid signature for applications for public assistance, rather than requiring an audio recording

Allows unsigned applications for public assistance received by mail to be signed by a verbal attestation by telephone

COVID-19 Executive Order No. 19:

Suspends the 14-day limit for inmate furloughs

Allows furloughs for medical, psychiatric or psychological purposes

April 7:
COVID-19 Executive Order No. 20:

Suspends date requirements for township annual meetings

Suspends license renewal limits for funeral director and embalmer interns

Suspends supervision requirement for funeral director interns when transporting bodies to a cemetery, crematory, or final place of disposition

Permits persons in the care of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services who are 18 or older to remain in their placement

Suspends the requirement for healthcare workers that designated students, applicants, and employees must have their fingerprints collected electronically and transmitted to the Illinois Department of State Police within 10 working days, provided that they are transmitted within 30 working days of enrollment in a CNA training program or the start of employment

Originally published by Illinois Policy on April 9, 2020. Published by permission.

Commentary: The Coronavirus could deepen globalization

Guest Commentary by Sreeja Kundu

by Sreeja Kundu

There is no further doubt left that the coronavirus outbreak is both an economic and a social shock that will remain imprinted on a nation’s psyche.

But the global impact of the pandemic poses a broader fundamental question: will this signal a major transition in the current neo-liberal order? Or more explicitly could the post-Covid world order witness the resurgence of the nation-state as we know it?

Genuinely watershed or pivotal moments are one of those rare episodes in history. Take your pick among- The Versailles Peace Treaty, Great Depression, Battle of the Stalingrad, or most recently the 2008 global financial crisis - all had the potential to alter the existing course of events or more significantly the status quo.

Even though, the world is yet to tide through the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic but in short term the crisis has given fuel to all various camps in the global order debate. The nationalists, anti-globalists, the China hawks and even liberal internationalists had already been experiencing a sense of urgency for their views.

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the course of life as we know it.

Third and a crucial insight derived from the Covid-19 crisis is the upsurge of the nation states.

It has crashed economies and broken health-care systems, filled hospital and emptied public spaces and has disrupted modern society on a scale that most living people had never witnessed. Given the deep economic damage and the social collapse that has unfurled because of this crisis, it is hard to see anything other than a reinforcement of a movement towards nationalism and a great power rivalry among others.

A striking example is the statement made by Wilbur Ross, the US trade advisor who believed that the virus renders the possibility that the US can’t depend on even "close allies" for its supply of essential items. His response far from being minced actually suggests that the most plausible response would be to shut the economic drawbridge.

What is surprising and perhaps unfortunate, that not just the US administration but the virus has revealed the hidden costs and the fragility of global supply chains which have prompted many to already write obituaries on globalization.

The first phase of globalization which lasted from the end of the Cold war until recently, was about free-trade agreements, building supply chains, creating an aspirational middle class through eradication of poverty and facilitating interconnectedness through digital means and mobility.

But the second wave of globalization which defines the latter part of the 21 st century has been confronted with mounting economic problems and consequent political challenges after a smooth phase of sail. The economic problems began with the 2008 financial crisis from which the world couldn’t fully recover. While economies might have become global, politics marked by nativist and populist impulses have remained national.

Is globalization waning?

One is already aware of the political backlash in the form resurgent nationalism that has taken place in both the industrialized nations and developing countries.

In this respect the coronavirus pandemic has intensified suspicion between an authoritarian regime in China and a populist administration in the US. Besides the obvious pitfalls that open-trade and integration with the global economy brings, that would be routinely flagged by populist political parties it would automatically deepen economic decoupling.

For example, some nationalists in the US and Europe already predisposed against unfettered trade, could actually flag the virus as the ultimate reason to seal the borders and bring factories back home.

Second, besides the hypernationalist narrative and the possibility of the overt geopolitical competition lies the fragility of the global supply chains. The supply chains were already under fire- economically due to rising Chinese labor cost, the US-China tariff war and the advances in technology in form of 3D-printing and automation.

Covid-19 crisis has undermined the basic tenets of manufacturing and exposed the weaknesses of the system. In other words, companies today will now rethink and possibly shrink the multi-step, multi-country supply chains that dominate production today. As Prof Richard Portes, sums it up correctly that "once supply chains were disrupted by [the virus] , people started looking for alternative suppliers at home".

Third and a crucial insight derived from the Covid-19 crisis is the upsurge of the nation states.

Unprecedented government aid and packages intended to mitigate the social and economic fallouts caused due to the outbreak and consequently the lockdown, forces a pertinent question to our minds - Is the nation-state back?

Even so, as anti-globalist might consider that the virus in China, thanks to intricately interconnected world was able to hit both the supply chain and humans in no time. Since globalization is not about movement of goods and services, but also of people, capital, technology and ideas. So intrinsically, socialist regimes would be better positioned to respond to emergencies as opposed to states that rely on a neo-liberal model.

A natural corollary is then that the high-water mark of globalization has arrived which signals radical pragmatic shifts.

The crisis so far has exposed the deep inequalities that dot our global village and tested the endemic resilience symbolized by the presence of a lamentable healthcare infrastructure in even developed nations. But that might itself open up the path for global coordination.

While on the short run the pandemic might benefit nationalists or anti-globalists by exposing the divisions, the crisis in the long run could further assist the development of the global consciousness. The more people over the world connect with each other over the same traumas over technology, the more they will be psychologically enmeshed within the community.

On an optimistic note , the coronavirus might provide the perfect fodder for the revival and perhaps lead to a deepening of globalization which had been fractured before the crisis.

About the author:

• Sreeja Kundu is business writer at Live Mint and holds a Master of Science in International Relations and Affairs from the University of Bristol.