An Indiana bill that would explore the possibility of redrawing the Indiana-Illinois border passed its first hurdle Monday, but the likelihood of it ultimately being approved remains slim.
Indiana House Bill 1008, sponsored by House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, would create the Indiana-Illinois Boundary Adjustment Commission. It passed the state Legislature’s Committee on Government and Regulatory Reform on an 11-1 vote.
The bill was filed in response to some right-leaning downstate Illinois counties pushing to secede from Illinois, where Democrats have long maintained.a supermajority in the Legislature.
Seven downstate Illinois counties voted in November to consider breaking away from Illinois to form a new state. Since 2020, 33 Illinois counties have passed similar initiatives.
“For those who wish to escape Illinois’ political and economic mire but haven’t yet moved to Indiana, there might be an alternative,” Huston wrote in a recent Indiana Business Journal editorial. “Instead of forming a new state, the counties that voted to pursue secession should join us in a state that shares their values and economic interests.”
Huston noted that around 100,000 former Illinois residents have moved to Indiana since 2020.
If the bill is approved, a boundary adjustment commission would be created consisting of five people appointed by Republican Indiana Gov. Mike Braun and five others appointed by Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
The commission’s objective would be to “discuss and recommend whether it is advisable to adjust the boundary between the State of Indiana and the State of Illinois,” the bill states. It would then submit a written report within 60 days of formulating its recommendations.
Last month, Pritzker called the bill “a stunt.”
“It’s not gonna happen,” Pritzker said. “But I will just say that Indiana is a low-wage state that doesn’t protect workers, a state that does not provide health care for people when they’re in need, and so I don’t think that it’s very attractive for anybody in Illinois where wages are higher, where the standard of living is higher and where we do provide health care for people in need.”
Any redrawing of the border would require approval by the Illinois and Indiana legislatures, as well as the U.S. Congress.