"Masks, vaccines, and testing requirements are life-saving measures that keep our workplaces and communities safe," Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in a statement Monday. "Keeping workplaces safe is a high priority, and I applaud the General Assembly for ensuring that the Health Care Right of Conscience Act is no longer wrongly used against institutions who are putting safety and science first."
The Health Care Right of Conscience Act, enacted in 1978, was initially designed to allow medical professionals to decline to receive or participate in health care services that are against their personal beliefs, including religious or moral objections to specific services, such as abortion.
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Democratic Attorney General Kwame Raoul had asked Pritzker to explain that the legislation does not do anything to restrict workplaces' measures meant to prevent the extent of deadly, communicable illnesses like COVID-19. In enacting SB 1169 into law, the Governor said the "amendment will ensure the long tradition of vaccine requirements by employers can continue with regard to the COVID-19 vaccine."
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The updates come after several lawsuits by workers mentioned the law's conscience-based exemption, claiming that their employers could not force them to get a vaccine for COVID-19, Fox 32 of Chicago reported. The amendment does not take effect until June 1, 2022.
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Despite Democrats wanting it to take effect immediately, the state constitution required more votes in the floor action than what they got. Some Republicans argue this leaves time for additional lawsuits, but another vote after Jan. 1, 2022, could allow the amendment to take effect sooner.
Democrats, including state House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch and state Rep. Robyn Gabel, have stressed that the law does chip away anyone's rights to claim exemptions based on sincerely held religious beliefs or other medical reasons, which are protected by federal law. But some experts believe that such exemptions will not be readily available under three federal statutes cited by Pritzker's office.
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Welch and Gabel argued that "a small minority of people" had been evading COVID-19 mandates by distorting the meaning of the law, thus putting vulnerable members of society and workers in high-risk environments, such as hospitals, veterans' homes, and schools, at risk.
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Outside of Illinois, lawsuits in New York and Maine are fighting workplace vaccine mandates based on the U.S. Constitution's Free Exercise of Religion clause. The suits could proceed to the Supreme Court.
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