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 Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Aug. 20 issued his 20th statewide
COVID-19 disaster proclamation, meaning by the end of this new proclamation he
will have declared Illinois to be in a state of disaster for 559 consecutive
days.
Pritzker’s spokesperson, Jordan Abudayyeh, said the latest declaration had been
signed Aug. 20. The proclamations allow him to extended his emergency powers for
additional 30-day periods on his own authority, an authority that has faced 19
court challenges.
One power Pritzker had been relinquishing was his eviction moratorium, which is
set to expire Aug. 31. On Aug. 16 Pritzker was noncommittal about extending the
moratorium amid Delta variant spread.
“We’ve looked at that, we continue to look at it. We’ll make a decision about
that soon,” he said when a reporter asked about whether it might be extended.
 Pritzker had previously justified his retention of emergency powers as necessary
in the absence of accessible COVID-19 vaccines for Illinoisans. He has argued
they were still needed to provide and promote state vaccination efforts, even
after the state reached his Phase 5, full reopening in June.
When pressed in a July 26 interview on what specific statistic the state would
need to meet for him to relinquish his emergency powers, Pritzker responded in
generalities.
“There’s always something that we need to be monitoring about this pandemic
because as you’ve seen that even though we have vaccines available there is a
good number of people in our population who are not yet vaccinated,” Pritzker
told Illinois Capitol News.
“What’s important is to keep the people of Illinois healthy and safe, and that’s
making sure people get vaccinated.”
Pritzker did not specify how many Illinoisans would have to get vaccinated for
him to lift the state’s disaster status. Nor did Pritzker provide any specifics
on when he would give up his emergency powers.
Pritzker first declared a statewide disaster when COVID-19 hit in mid-March
2020, invoking the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act. A section of the
act provides that in the case of a disaster, the governor can issue a
proclamation declaring the disaster and grant himself 30 days of emergency
powers over state institutions, operations and public health.
Pritzker has invoked his emergency powers to sign 80 executive orders into law
during the past 17 months. These executive orders include issuing statewide
stay-at-home orders, limiting the size of public gatherings, suspending the
enforcement of laws and agency operations and closing schools and businesses
deemed non-essential.
He most recently used them to mandate masks in both private and public schools,
regardless of whether students and staff are vaccinated. One private school that
tried to go mask optional was quickly reprimanded and threatened by the state. A
school board member had his medical license threatened over his opposition.
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Pritzker initially said he was allowing elected
local school leaders determine mask policy, but a few weeks later he
flip-flopped on the issue because he said too few were making what
he considered to be the correct decision.
“Far too few school districts have chosen to follow
the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention prescription
for keeping students and staff safe,” Pritzker said Aug. 4. “Given
the CDC’s strong recommendation, I had hoped that a state mask
requirement in schools wouldn’t be necessary, but it is.”
The CDC “recommends” masks in schools.
While Illinois’ emergency management act states emergency powers are
limited to 30 days, Pritzker has claimed he can extend his emergency
power indefinitely. He simply needs to issue new disaster
proclamations as they expire, which he did again Aug. 20.
Without explicit rules on if Pritzker can extend his emergency power
on his own authority, the task falls to the Illinois General
Assembly to clarify with new legislation. State lawmakers have
declined to do so.
Most states have not allowed emergency powers to last indefinitely.
Emergency executive powers are meant to allow the governor to
quickly address a disaster in a way that a deliberative body such as
the General Assembly cannot. But when the disaster is nearly a year
and one-half old, there is little reason for rules to be dictated
rather than debated and implemented by elected representatives.
Since declaring a second disaster proclamation and shutting down
non-essential businesses by executive order, Pritzker has become the
target of 19 lawsuits alleging he overstepped his authority.
State courts have since ruled to uphold the mitigation policies
introduced under Pritzker’s Restore Illinois reopening plan and
affirm his claim to emergency power by executive order for as long
as he believes the disaster that caused the emergency continues.
Illinois has made the mistake of putting unprecedented power in the
hands of politicians before, giving rise to the state’s second-worst
in the nation culture of corruption. But rather than return power to
the elected officials Illinoisans chose to represent them, the
majority of lawmakers have remained silent while Pritzker extended
his emergency powers without constraint.
Now that Pritzker’s again anointed himself for a 20th time, state
lawmakers would be wise to impose some limits. After 559 days, it
will be hard to argue the emergency precluded elected
representatives from weighing in on one-man rule. |
