A local representative is calling for a committee hearing on a bill in the General Assembly that would end unilateral rules through the excessive use of executive orders.
93rd District Representative Norine Hammond says Democrats are unwilling to even talk about the bill in committee at all: “Many of our colleagues, unfortunately, are not willing to take a stand politically. I think that is what’s holding it back. As you all know, there is a super-majority in the House and the Senate. Somebody’s got to…somebody with some stature has to stand up and says ‘This is what we are going to do, and we’re going to meet, and we’re going to talk about it.”
Hammond says that General Assembly Democrats have abdicated their responsibility to their constituents when it comes to making decisions for the state: “Governor Pritzker has issued and extended disaster declarations since the beginnings of this pandemic with little to no input from legislators. The governor has issued a total of 91 executive orders. This represents the condensed version of those 91 executive orders: since 2020-2021, everything from the initial stay-at-home order to regional mitigations, and masks, and vaccine mandates. The Democratic majority in the General Assembly has abdicated the responsibility to serve as a co-equal branch of our government and has ceded that authority to Governor Pritzker again and again.”
The bill in question, House Bill 843, was filed earlier this year, and although it has near unanimous support from the House Republican caucus, it has yet to earn a committee hearing. The Republicans at the press conference held yesterday at the Capitol say they believe that beyond thirty days, the legislature must be involved to approve further emergency orders.