Peoria Standard

Illinois state Sen. Win Stoller, a Republican, argued against the extension of pandemic-related emergency powers for Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker in a Facebook post published on Wednesday.

"If not now, then when will Governor Pritzker end these Emergency Declarations?" Stoller wrote. "What criteria or metrics does he need to see? Because the majority of our nation agrees that the emergency phase of COVID-19 has been clearly over for some time."

The post also featured a link to a Wirepoints article written by Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner marking 1,000 days of emergency declaration under Pritzker.

"Gov. Pritzker recently extended his Disaster Proclamation for Illinois for the 37th straight time, a period that now stretches over 1,000 days," the article states. "The governor’s extension of the state’s COVID disaster declarations, in conjunction with President Biden’s continued aid, is harmful to Illinoisans in so many ways. Loss of rights and crippling inflation are but two of them. On top of that, keeping Illinois a 'disaster area' gives the state access to extra Medicaid and food stamps, and that’s creating more government dependency and killing jobs at the same time."

According to the official State of Illinois Coronavirus Response website, the most recent executive order related to COVID-19 reissues seven older COVID-19-related executive orders through Jan. 6. Pritzker signed the order on Dec. 8.

In November, Illinois Policy argued against the emergency orders by comparing Illinois' status with neighboring states.

"None of Illinois’ neighboring states remain under emergency orders," the article states. "Illinois is one of just 10 states nationwide still being ruled through emergency powers, with eight of the 10 led by Democratic governors."

Win Stoller is a Germantown Hills resident who was first elected to the Illinois Senate in 2021. His legislative experience includes serving on both the Environment and Conservation Committee and the Senate Higher Education Committee.