McHenry Times

Republican state Senator Don DeWitte aimed criticism at Democratic Governor JB Pritzker this week for his frequent use of executive orders. 

In a Facebook post, DeWitte said, "It appears the Governor intends to rule his entire term via executive orders and disaster declarations. These ongoing designations provide him with much greater authority and allow him to rule unilaterally in many ways. It's clear he has no intention of ruling as one of three co-equal branches of government and prefers to shut out the legislative branch."

On July 22, Pritzker issued an executive order that declared every county in Illinois a "disaster area" due to COVID-19 and authorized him continued use of his emergency powers. On March 9, 2020, Pritzker issued the first executive order related to the pandemic. 

In his e-newsletter, DeWitte noted that Pritzker also declared an emergency on Aug. 1 due to the monkeypox virus. The Illinois State Constitution stipulates that the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government are supposed to govern equally. DeWitte called Pritzker's ongoing emergency declarations an abuse of executive power. He co-sponsored Senate Bill 103, which would require the legislature's approval before the governor could issue another emergency declaration. The bill was filed more than a year ago, but no hearing has been held. 

In a post, he wrote, "Majority Party leaders must take a stand, or the Governor will continue to issue disaster proclamations for the foreseeable future and shut duly elected lawmakers out of the decision-making process."

According to the National Academy for State Health Policy, Illinois' neighboring states are no longer under emergency orders. In October 2020, Michigan's state of emergency ended, Wisconsin's ended in March 2021, Missouri's in December 2021, Iowa's in February 2022, and Indiana's in March 2022.