The Illinois Senate reconvened in Springfield on Tuesday with COVID-19 testing of members and employees a priority.
Senate President's Office Spokesman John Patterson has indicated they are making efforts to get things back to normal again.
“We are trying to get back to normal and make sure that the workplace is safe, and so this week is our trial run at seeing how we can do that,“ he said, as reported by KHQA.
With each COVID-19 test costing about $30, frequent testing for the 59 senators, press and other staff members might end up being costly.
Testing for senators only will require almost $3,600 in the first week when they are scheduled to take the test twice.
Patterson assured taxpayers that the money will come from the Senate's operations budget.
“The cost for testing is going to come out of the Senate operations budget and we should be able to cover testing costs without any additional cost to taxpayers," Patterson said, according to the same publication.
He went on to explain that the senate operations budget is part of the budget that gets approved annually with the purpose of catering to the cost of the Senate being in session.
The COVID-19 tests are however not mandatory and Senators who choose not to meet in person can still do so online.
State Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet), who has been advocating for testing since September, commended the efforts being made, suggesting the federal government should pick up the bill.
“Other than vaccines, this is the second most important thing we can do to try to stop the spread," Rose said, adding, "Pritzker‘s administration has received quite a bit of federal taxpayer assistance for all things COVID. This is a perfect opportunity to use federal dollars to cover these costs," KQHA reported.
The Illinois Senate is working with the University of Illinois to regularly test everyone. All COVID-19 tests will be done in the Stratton Building with results available within 24 hours.
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