SE Illinois News

With a Clay County judge having ruled that Gov. J.B. Pritzker exceeded his powers by extending his stay-at-home beyond 30 days, state Rep. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) is urging businesses to immediately resume full operations.

“The state needs to open up immediately and not allow Gov. Pritzker to stand on his bully platform any longer and pretend people will automatically get in trouble for violating his rule,” Bailey told the SE Illinois News. “We just found out the state has lost lost over $1 billion in sales tax revenue because of the governor’s nonsensical breakdown. We need to open up and people need to quit living in fear and just use their common sense.”

Bailey filed suit back in April, charging the governor had no authority to extend the executive order he enacted in shutting down what he deemed to be non-essential businesses as a way of mitigating the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The judge who ruled in the latest case is the same judge who granted Bailey a temporary restraining order applying only to himself, exempting the veteran lawmaker from the governor’s stay-at-home order.

“I never said we need to ignore COVID, just that we can protect ourselves by taking precautions as we go about doing what we need to do,” Bailey said. “I hope my standing up helps make a difference. Right now, many local governments are being run by liberal-minded individuals still issuing threats and people are confused. I hope people understand all the governor can do is make recommendations. None of these orders have any legal authority.”

The governor's office has indicated it plans to appeal the ruling, with a spokesperson from Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office adding "we are reviewing the order and evaluating our options."