State Senator Neil Anderson has released the following statement after a bipartisan vote from the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules to override new emergency rules from Governor Pritzker’s Illinois Department of Public Health that would have reinstated the K-12 mask mandate for most schools:
“For two years now, the Governor has continued his unilateral approach of dictating our rights and our freedoms both inside and outside of the classroom. Instead of being a leader, he instilled fear in school districts across the state, threatening to strip funding and take away extracurricular rights.
“When a judge nullified the Pritzker Administration’s mask mandate in schools, the administration late last night filed a rule to try and override the judicial process. Today’s bipartisan vote is proof that the Governor isn’t above the law and that even his Democratic allies wouldn’t get on board with his tyrannical process.
“For the educators and administrators that have been faced with chaos due to Pritzker’s strong ego to dictate, I hope you find great joy in returning to the classroom tomorrow and seeing your students’ smiling faces.”