He’s done it again. Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued his 35th Covid Disaster Proclamation on October 14, 2022.
Here’s what he proclaimed: “I find that a disaster exists within the State of Illinois and specifically declare all counties in the State of Illinois as a disaster area.”
With this latest declaration, the governor has extended his unilateral executive powers through the November 8 elections (his declaration expires November 12).
The governor’s repeated Covid declarations have completely bastardized the intended purpose of Illinois’ emergency rules.
Here’s what you should know:
- The latest proclamation marks 35 straight 28-day periods during which the governor has maintained the power to make emergency executive orders without the input of the legislature – and by extension, the people of Illinois.
- It’s been nearly 950 days that Illinoisans have lived under emergency rules unilaterally set by the governor. Gov. Pritzker has maintained these emergency rules for more than two-thirds of his time in office.
- That proclamation is what has allowed him to close businesses, demand masks, mandate vaccinations, force remote learning and more over the last 2.5 years. This latest version allows him to reimpose those restrictions at his discretion.
- Gov. Pritzker includes all 102 counties in his Disaster Declaration, treating Cook County, with its 5,173,146 population, exactly the same as Illinois’ smallest county, Hardin County, population 3,650.
- Democratic supermajorities, led by House Speaker Chris Welch and Senate President Don Harmon, have more than enough votes to end the governor’s abuse of his emergency powers. They’ve done nothing.
- All of Illinois’ neighboring states ended their emergency orders either months or years ago. Michigan ended its orders two years ago and Wisconsin, about 1.5 years ago. All the other neighboring states stopped using such powers more than six months ago.
- Pritzker says he’s maintaining his Disaster Declaration to keep getting additional federal funds for food stamps and Medicaid. His continued demand for handouts – part of the trillions in federal Covid cash distributed to states – is contributing to the highest rate of inflation in 40 years.
