Peoria Standard

State Rep. Norine Hammond (R-Macomb) is pushing for a full House vote on a bill proposed by GOP colleague Rep. Dan Ugaste (R-St. Charles) that seeks to rein in Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s executive authority and restore lawmakers as an equal voice.

“As we stand here before you as elected members of the Illinois General Assembly together with all of our colleagues, we are responsible for representing our constituents and voting on policy matters that are important to them, that includes the state’s COVID-19 response,” Hammond said at an Oct. 20 news conference on the issue. “Gov. Pritzker has issued an extended disaster declaration since the beginning of this pandemic with little to no input from legislators.”

House Bill 843 seeks to grant lawmakers the authority to be involved in all emergency orders after 30 days. The measure mandates that if the governor “issues a proclamation declaring a disaster, the Governor may extend the proclamation or make an additional proclamation regarding the same disaster, but the extension or additional proclamation shall be void and have no legal effect unless within 5 days of the extension or additional proclamation he or she receives written approval to extend the proclamation or make an additional proclamation from 3 legislative leaders or the General Assembly adopts a joint resolution approving the extension or additional proclamation.”

In addition, the bill outlines that a disaster proclamation issued, or a disaster proclamation regarding the same disaster, shall be void and have no legal effect if at any time the General Assembly adopts a joint resolution declaring the proclamation to be void.

Hammond argues the time for such action is now.

“The governor has issued a total of 91 executive orders,” she said. “This represents the condensed version of those 91 executive orders since 2020 and 2021, everything from the initial stay-at-home to regional mitigations and masks and vaccine mandates. The Democratic majority has abdicated the responsibility to serve as a co-equal branch of our government and has ceded that authority to Gov. Pritzker again and again. I'm here today to assert that the General Assembly's authority and responsibility to debate critically important legislation during these times is now, that would begin by calling Rep. Ugaste’s House Bill 843 for a vote by all 118 members in the House.”