INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (WTVO) — An Indiana House committee has advanced a bill that would adopt several Illinois counties that indicated they wanted to secede from the state.
House Bill 1008 passed the Committee on Government and Regulatory Reform on Monday.
At least 33 Illinois counties, including Madison County, Iroquois County, Calhoun County, Clinton County, Green County, Jersey County, and Perry County, have voted on non-binding measure a to consider splitting from Chicago and Cook County and forming a new state.
Illinois voters who support the referendums argue that Chicago and Cook County voters hold an oversized sway in policies enacted by the state legislature, and do not align with the priorities of rural voters.
But, the process to annex those counties into Indiana would have to go through both Illinois and Indiana statehouses and Washington D.C. Redrawing state borders would ultimately take an act of Congress.
An organization called New Illinois has been pursuing the formation of a new state, “separate from the current State of Illinois, Urban Cook County and Chicago,” for several years.
The bill was introduced by Indiana’s House Speaker, Rep. Todd Huston (R), who said “To all of our neighbors in the West, we hear your frustrations and invite you to join us in low-cost, low-tax Indiana. Instead of seceding and creating a 51st state, they should just join us.”
Huston’s bill would create the Indiana-Illinois Boundary Adjustment Commission, which would discuss and recommend whether it is advisable to adjust boundaries between the two states.
“It’s a stunt. It’s not going to happen,” Pritzker said in January. “I don’t think that’s attractive for anyone in Illinois, where wages are higher and the standard of living is higher, and we do provide health care for people in need.”
