Businesses That Don't Enforce Pritzker's Mask Mandate Face Fines

SPRINGFIELD, IL — Businesses and other organizations that fail to enforce the state's mask mandate and limits on the size of gatherings can now face fines of up to $2,500 under new emergency rules upheld by lawmakers Tuesday.

The rules also allow local public health departments to order the closures of schools and day cares in response to coronavirus outbreaks, and to conduct contact tracing and other COVID-19 investigations in private establishments.

The 12 state legislators on the bipartisan Joint Committee of Administrative Rules, or JCAR, voted along party lines following closed-door deliberations on the emergency amendments to the Illinois Control of Communicable Disease Code. Eight votes are needed to overturn a proposed rule, but a motion to block it failed to gain the votes of more than JCAR's six Republican members.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker first announced the new Illinois Department of Public Health administrative rules Friday, calling it a "make or break moment" for the state to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.

In a statement following the joint committee's vote, Pritzker said he was thankful that local governments now have an additional way to keep their communities safe from the coronavirus.

"The vast majority of our communities and business owners are doing what's right," Pritzker said. "[T]hese rules will provide multiple opportunities for compliance before any penalty is issued and will help ensure that the minority of people who refuse to act responsibly won’t take our state backward. These rules will ensure that there is a commonsense way to enforce public health guidelines with an emphasis on education first so that Illinois can continue to make substantial progress in our fight against COVID-19."

RELATED: New Emergency Mask Rules Proposed For Businesses, Schools

Pritzker's administration introduced similar rules in May ahead of a brief special legislative session, only to withdraw them during a JCAR meeting. Last week, the governor explained that lawmakers had said they would provide his administration the additional public health enforcement powers during the three-day session but failed to do so.

In addition to making businesses responsible for enforcing the governor's face covering order, the new rules establish that all gatherings of more than 50 people in one space are forbidden.

The new penalties explicitly do not apply to individuals — not to patrons, workers or business owners. Only businesses, facilities, organizations and services open to the public or employees can be fined, and only after public health authorities first issue a written notice and, later, another written order to disperse.

If an establishment refuses to heed the dispersal order or continues to violate capacity limits or face covering requirements after getting two written notices of noncompliance, the fines can kick in, according to the new administration rules.

"When determining whether a business, service, facility or organization has failed to comply," they say, "enforcing entities shall take into consideration reasonable efforts taken by the business, service, facility or organization to ensure all individuals, including but not limited to patrons and employees, wear a face covering while they are on premises and unable to maintain a social distance of at least six-feet."

For retailers, those reasonable efforts mean taking actions such as posting signs that face coverings are required on premises, offering face coverings to customers, warning those who fail to cover their faces and asking those who refuse to leave, according to the rules.

Face coverings have been mandatory under certain circumstances in Illinois since Pritzker's May 1 modified stay-at-home executive order. Anyone over age 2 and able to medically tolerate covering their nose and mouth with a mask or cloth is ordered to do so whenever it is not possible to maintain a 6-foot social distance from other people. The emergency rules adopted Tuesday do not give authorities any additional power to enforce that order on individuals.

But the rules do grant public health officials extra enforcement powers over educational institutions.

All public and private schools and day cares must require students, staff and anyone else on premises to wear face coverings.

When they are found not to comply, schools and day cares must notify parents in writing that a notice of non-compliance was issued by local authorities, and administrators must disclose a plan to comply with public health rules. Public health authorities are granted broad powers to ensure schools comply.

Any outbreak of COVID-19 among students and staff may be declared a public health emergency, and state or local health departments may order the closures of schools or day cares.

Emergency rules can stand for 150 days before expiring if they are not replaced with permanent administrative rules.

Public health officials backed the new rules, while a trade group representing the state's retail business owners opposed them.

The Illinois Public Health Association, which represents 88 of the state's certified local health departments, issued a statement Saturday supporting the rules and warning of an "alarming increase of COVID-19 cases" in recent days.

“These proposed rules allow for multiple opportunities and flexibility to help businesses and others come into compliance," it said. "As frontline defenders of the public’s health, we have a responsibility to support initiatives that are proven to help prevent the spread of this virus, and we believe these proposed rules are a measured and necessary step to reduce future transmission of coronavirus and ultimately save many lives across our state."

Rob Karr, president and chief executive officer of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, said his industry had helped develop the state's safety guidelines, including the existing face mask requirement. In a statement following the JCAR meeting, he called the rule an injustice to both small and large businesses.

“Instead of cooperation and collaboration, the Administration chose politics and confrontation in developing this rule, abandoning the partnership with retailers that has helped guide our state through this pandemic," Karr said. "While the Administration preaches the importance of individuals wearing face coverings, they are clearly not interested in taking responsibility for their own orders. Instead, they are exporting their enforcement responsibilities to others and playing politics with the pandemic. Make no mistake: their actions have once again put retailers and their employees in harm’s way."