Peoria Standard

State Representative Tim Butler (R-Springfield) wants the General Assembly to have a say in Gov. J.B. Pritzker's Restore Illinois plans, claiming that legislators have yet to be heard regarding COVID-19 and plans to reopen the economy.

Butler said at a press conference that the General Assembly should take an up or down vote on Pritzker's Restore Illinois plan.

"I sent a letter to the Governor on Monday about this," Butler said. "I have yet to hear anything back."

Butler said Republicans sent a framework to the governor on May 4 regarding reopening plans.

"He didn’t give us any heads up on his plan, even though Leader (Jim) Durkin had reached out to him about that very thing," Butler said. "It was a good framework. It was based off of the ideas that we formulated from the House Republican Caucus."

Butler said the framework created more state regions and included more input from local health departments.

"The media reported Illinois has the most restrictions in the nation during the pandemic," Butler said. "We’ve been on lockdown since March 21. We’re one of the first to go on lockdown and have the most restrictions in place."

Butler said when the House is asking for a vote, it's because they believe the General Assembly needs to be heard.

"We’ve had no voice in this," Butler said. "We don’t believe his Restore Illinois plan is right. We need to have more input for individuals, the General Assembly and overall."

Butler said he doesn't think Democrats will agree.

"I personally don’t believe they want a vote on this because they’ll be put on record," Butler said. "I think that’s why we need to see an up or down vote on this. The governor has said repeatedly that he doesn’t think the legislature should be involved. This just proves he’s doing this on his own and not looking for input from a coequal branch of government."