East Central Reporter

In a June 4 Facebook post, Rep. Adam Niemerg (R-Teutopolis) railed against Gov. J. B. Pritzker's recent disaster proclamation.

"Power and Control……. don't think for a second the mandates would not be in place had you not pushed back. The continued executive orders are all a setup to bring back masking and mandates if and when the Governor wants……," Niemerg posted.

Niemerg shared a link to a Wirepoints article in which Mark Glennon wrote: Continued reliance on emergency power therefore seems like an unnecessary provocation. Illinois is becoming an outlier and fueling further resentment to one-person rule. As reported in Center Square, at least 34 states have some sort of legislative check in place for the duration of emergency executive powers. Twenty-two states empower state lawmakers to end a state of emergency by resolution at any time, while 12 states require state legislatures to approve any extension of emergency declarations. Ohio passed a measure to establish legislative oversight of the executive branch's use of emergency powers in 2021. Michigan recently repealed the state statute authorizing emergency executive powers. Wisconsin's emergency order was struck down by its courts early in the pandemic.

On May 27, Pritzker signed his 28th disaster proclamation regarding the COVID-19 crisis. This proclamation was to help Illinois obtain state and federal recovery funds and resources.

In the June 9 update on COVID-19 numbers, Wirepoints reported that deaths from COVID-19 are at pandemic lows.