Senator Dan McConchie is releasing the following statement after Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker laid out his plan to slowly re-open Illinois.
“After weeks of questions from legislators, the Governor has finally laid out his plan for re-opening Illinois,” said McConchie. “While I was initially hopeful, a more thorough reading reveals it amounts to little more than a 12-month stay-at-home plan.”
McConchie laid out a number of concerns about the plan:
- Why split the state into only four regions? In the 26th District, McHenry County will be treated exactly the same as downtown Chicago. By comparison, New York is split into 10 regions despite being geographically smaller than Illinois.
- Why does the plan include a minimum of 28 days between changes in phases? This is double what any other state is doing.
- What data is being used to justify the 28-day standard? What experts have been consulted? The people of Illinois deserve transparency on these questions.
- Why continue to penalize small businesses? Citizens can go to big-box stores to buy furniture or clothing, and they can go to the grocery store to buy flowers, but they can’t shop at small businesses that offer these same services.
- Need a haircut? Under this plan, you’ll have to wait until at least June.
- Full re-opening of Illinois will take from 9-15 months – meaning emergency declarations every 30 days granting the Governor virtually unlimited authority.
- Why not consult the legislature? There is no legislative oversight over any of these decisions and actions. We need the co-equal branches of our state’s government to be allowed to provide critical checks-and-balances on governmental overreach.
“It is well past time that legislative leaders call us back to session and put this right,” said McConchie.