100th Legislative District Representative and Republican Assistant Minority Leader CD Davidsmeyer has taken exception to Governor J.B. Pritzker 5-phase regional reopening plan for the state. In an editorial released today, Davidsmeyer says that the plan is too slow and it’s hurting small businesses. “To me, it looks like too little too late. It looks like he’s pushing it out maybe 6 to 12 months. In my eyes, if we don’t get something open right now we are going to lose and are already losing businesses. The reality of it is, he blasted the Indiana governor for arbitrary dates. From what I see, he’s got the arbitrary date at the end of his executive order at the end of the month to even start looking to another phase, and he’s got the arbitrary number of 28 days so that the state can move to another phase, which is absolutely ridiculous.”
Davidsmeyer says the plan is failing his local district and that the governor has not made a distinction between Scott and Sangamon counties whose situations are vastly different. “My district, with the low numbers that we’ve seen, we should definitely at least be in Phase 3 but should be well on our way to Phase 4 as we speak. People are hurting. The Department of Employment Security is absolutely failing people. We need to get our economy opened back up otherwise more lives are going to be lost, and definitely livelihoods will be lost. The ability to pay their rent, pay their bills, to feed their families is at risk. Also, once these businesses are gone, we also lose employment for other people who work at those businesses. That’s an absolute concern as we move forward.”
Davidsmeyer says that the time for the governor to make emergency decisions has come and gone and that local health departments need to be making the decisions until the General Assembly is back in session. Davidsmeyer emphasized in the closing of the editorial that time for opening the economy of the state is now.