Illinois Valley Times

State Sen. Win Stoller (R-Germantown Hills) has questioned why Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) has continued to make use of his COVID-related emergency powers.

Stoller shared his thoughts in a Dec. 14 Facebook post. 

"If not now, then when will Gov. Pritzker end these Emergency Declarations? 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," Stoller wrote in the post.

Stoller, who's served in the state Senate since 2021, shared a link to a Wirepoints article which marked 1,000 days of emergency declarations under the Pritzker administration. In the article, Ted Dabrowski and John Klinger wrote: "Gov. Pritzker recently extended his Disaster Proclamation for Illinois for the 37th straight time, a period that now stretches over 1,000 days.  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."

Pritzker's most recent COVID-related executive order was signed on Dec. 8. According to the state's Coronavirus response website, the order "reissues previous Executive Orders related to the COVID-19 pandemic through Jan. 6, 2023."

In November, Illinois Policy compared Illinois' status with neighboring states. The article pointed out that at the time Illinois was one of 10 states in the nation still being "ruled through emergency powers." Eight of those states were lead by Democratic governors.