South Central Reporter

Illinois state Rep. Blaine Wilhour (R-Beecher City) has a clear mission in his new role as a member of the Economic Recovery Working Group, convened to deal with the financial fallout of the coronavirus. 

“An economic recovery for Illinois will need to include getting people back to work, whether at their former jobs or in new opportunities,” Wilhour said. “We need to get government out of the way of the entrepreneurial spirit and rebuild our economy as soon as possible.”  

Appointed by House Republican Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs), Wilhour was largely selected based on his experience as a member of the House Labor & Commerce Committee and his experience as a small business owner.

“Coming out of this temporary and artificially imposed economic slowdown, we have both an obligation to help shape a plan to accelerate our economy to a healthy position with good paying jobs for people and we have an opportunity to reform and rethink our regulations, business incentives, fees and taxes,” Wilhour said. “Many businesses have not closed completely but changed their business models to adapt how they provide goods and services with some distancing through ‘by appointment’ processes or new delivery services.”

For now, the group is expected to convene through video conferencing with a goal of collecting data associated with unemployment numbers, hospital cases, supply-chain data from trucking companies and agriculture and manufacturing needs. The goal is for the data to be used as part of a campaign to create public policy proposals that will go a long way in aiding the recovery.

Since Gov. J.B. Pritzker imposed his stay-at-home order late last month that forced thousands of businesses deemed not to be essential to close, the state’s unemployment rate has jumped by 1.2 percent to 4.6 percent overall.