Measures addressing aggravated battery of retail workers, disability leave for public employees and unionization of employees in the horse racing industry found their way into a COVID-19-response bill this week at the Capitol. One portion of the bill extended a one-year recovery period by 60 days for eligible public employees who are recovering from an on-the-job injury and their recovery is hindered, directly or indirectly, by COVID-19.

SB 671 extends an executive order issued in March by Gov. JB Pritzker requiring public and private insurers to cover in-network telehealth services as if they had happened in a doctor’s office. That order also restricts the fees that insurers can charge for telehealth.

The thieves may have all the information they need but the state is supposed to verify each claim with the employer before it’s paid.

“I’m sorry that Chicago Democrats felt like your concerns didn’t matter enough to do anything about, either because of self-interest first or because they assume each of us wear a MAGA hat, tote guns around everywhere, and somehow, deserve this fate of watching our neighbors livelihoods fade like the memories of a community fireworks display on this quarantined Independence Day.”

The facilities are the former Sherman Hospital campus in Elgin, the former Westlake Hospital in Melrose Park, the former MetroSouth Medical Center in Blue Island, and the former Vibra Hospital in Springfield. The emergency taking orders cite state law, saying compensation shall include 6% annual interest on the fair market value of the property.

Illinois, for example, ran a budget deficit of 6% from 2004 through 2018, despite having a balanced-budget amendment. In explaining the shortfall, a report from Illinois Policy blamed the state constitution’s use of the word “estimated.” A balanced budget in Illinois is one that “shall not exceed funds estimated by the General Assembly during that year.”

The figures released by the state show lower totals, however, because officials have stopped including in their public data 74 facilities that have not had a new case in the past 28 days, an IDPH spokeswoman said Friday.

“However well-intentioned they may be, the executive orders appear to reach far beyond the scope of the 30-day emergency authority granted to the governor under Illinois law,” Steven D. Weinhoeft, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, said in a statement. “Even during times of crisis, executive actions undertaken in the name of public safety must be lawful.”