Illinois Valley Times

Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Peru) recently took to the Senate floor to express her concerns with the amendment of the healthcare act that allows workplaces to enforce COVID-19 vaccination and testing.

Amending the Health Care Right of Conscience Act, SB 1169 provides that it is not a violation of the act for any person or public official, or for any public or private association, agency, corporation, entity, institution, or employer to take any measures or impose any requirements intended to prevent contraction or transmission of COVID-19 or any pathogens that result in COVID-19 or any of its subsequent iterations.

"Since I've been here and probably I would say for the last decade, this is the bill that has had the most people (submit) slip(s) in opposition to a bill," Rezin said on the Senate floor. "There are concerns around the state that people are not being heard, that their rights are being taken away from them."

The bill also provides that it is not a violation of the act to enforce such measures or requirements.

"Over the course of this bill I would say for the last week we had 7,000 people (submit) slip(s) in opposition to Amendment 1," Rezin said on the Senate Floor. "We had over 54,000 (submit) slip(s) in opposition (to) Amendment 2, which is very similar to Amendment 3 that we're discussing here today, and in the past 24 hours we've had over 22,000 people (submit) slip(s) in opposition to Amendment 3."

Gov. Pritzker signed the bill into law on Nov. 8.

Rezin was elected into the House of Representatives in November 2010 before being appointed to the state Senate in December 2010, serving the 37th District of Illinois ever since.

Selected as the deputy minority leader of the Senate Republican Caucus in 2021, Rezin also serves as the minority spokesperson on the Senate Energy and Public Utilities, Education, and Human Rights committees.