From State Senator Craig Wilcox:

Republicans push for state offices to resume operations

With the State of Illinois solidly in Phase 5 of the reopening plan, Senate Republicans continue their calls to have all state offices reopen, especially the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES), which continues to remain closed.

These state agencies, especially IDES, provide critical services, and the prolonged closure of these agencies is becoming increasingly frustrating to Illinoisans.

This week I joined several of my Senate Republican colleagues in sending a letter to Governor Pritzker, urging the reopening of all state offices.

While some state offices, such as the Illinois Secretary of State, have resumed full operations, others such as IDES remain inexplicably shuttered. This is creating confusion for residents and is adding unnecessary barriers to receiving state services.

IDES, which handles issues with unemployment benefits for employees throughout the state, has been closed for almost 500 days and continues to be criticized for fraud issues, the slow response time, and the backlog of unaddressed claims.

The entire private sector is back open for business. There is no excuse for state offices to not be fully opened and operational.

Wilcox hosts successful events, looks ahead to future events in 32^nd District

I want to thank everyone who participated in my community outreach events last week.

We had a fabulous turnout for the blood drive I hosted at Skyline Cruise Night on Monday in McHenry, and about two dozen people participated in a webinar I co-hosted on Tuesday, that included information on the Illinois Housing Development Authority’s rental assistance program.

On Saturday, we had a good turnout area-wide for the annual DamYak challenge in McHenry, with more than 150 kayaks in the water and additional event supporters cheering from land.

The event raises awareness and funds for Kids In Need McHenry County, a non-profit organization created to identify and provide kids in need with important recourses to help them have a happy and healthy childhood.

Great fun was had by all at this annual event.