State Representative Tom Bennett of Pontiac (shown in photo) says he doesn’t like the way Governor JB Pritzker is extending the stay-at-home orders statewide….
{‘’I would have liked to have seen the governor take more of a regional approach, rather than a statewide one. And lifted more restrictions in these areas of the state where there have been fewer confirmed cases of coronavirus,’’ said Representative Bennett. ‘’But this is a step in the right direction. And as conditions improve in the coming weeks more of the restrictions, I believe, can be lifted.’’}
State Senator Jason Barickman of Bloomington is co-sponsoring a bill that would limit lengthy emergency declarations by the governor without legislative input. Governors would be required to receive legislative input before extending an emergency declaration beyond 30 days.
”I don’t think it’s a good idea for a state to allow one person to have the power to keep issuing emergency declarations indefinitely without any legislative input,” said Barrickman. ”The Illinois Constitution sets forth two co-equal branches of government and it is clear that we need a safeguard to make sure the executive branch doesn’t have the ability to unilaterally override the authority of the legislature,” added Senator Barrickman.
The governor announced Thursday that the stay-at-home order is being extended until the end of May. But he also made some modifications in the order…allowing some things to re-open on May 1st.
