West Central Reporter

Veteran state Rep. Norine Hammond (R-Macomb) is all in on a plan that aims to curtail Gov. J.B. Pritzker's executive powers.

“The Democratic majority has abdicated the responsibility to serve as a co-equal branch of our government and has ceded that authority to Gov. Pritzker again and again,” Hammond said at a news conference earlier this month. “I'm here today to assert that the General Assembly's authority and responsibility to debate critically important legislation during these times is now, and that would begin by calling Rep. (Dan) Ugaste’s House Bill 843 for a vote by all 118 members in the House.”

With GOP estimates of the number of executive orders the governor has issued since the pandemic in the neighborhood of 90, HB 843 seeks to grant lawmakers the authority to be involved in all emergency orders after 30 days. The measure mandates that if the governor “issues a proclamation declaring a disaster, the Governor may extend the proclamation or make an additional proclamation regarding the same disaster, but the extension or additional proclamation shall be void and have no legal effect unless within 5 days of the extension or additional proclamation he or she receives written approval to extend the proclamation or make an additional proclamation from 3 legislative leaders or the General Assembly adopts a joint resolution approving the extension or additional proclamation.”

In addition, the bill outlines that a disaster proclamation issued, or a disaster proclamation regarding the same disaster, shall be void and have no legal effect if at any time the General Assembly adopts a joint resolution declaring the proclamation to be void.

Hammond clearly seems of the mind that’s more like the way things should be.  

“As we stand here before you as elected members of the Illinois General Assembly together with all of our colleagues, we are responsible for representing our constituents and voting on policy matters that are important to them, that includes the state’s COVID-19 response,” she said. “Gov. Pritzker has issued an extended disaster declaration since the beginning of this pandemic with little to no input from legislators.”