Jan. 16—Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston wants the nearly three-dozen Illinois counties that have voted to secede to consider redder pastures. Among those, two counties that border Vermilion County, Iroquois County to the north and Edgar County to the south.
“We think instead of seceding and creating a 51st state, they should just join us,” Huston said, while introducing his priority legislation, House Bill 1008.
“We match their priorities, their interests and we’re excited about having that conversation this year,” the Republican from Fishers, Indiana, told reporters. “And to all of our neighbors to the west, we hear your frustrations and then invite you to join us in a low-cost, low-tax Indiana.”
Huston’s bill establishes the Indiana-Illinois Boundary Adjustment Commission. The group would have five appointed Hoosier lawmakers and five appointees from Illinois.
After naming Indiana’s members, newly inaugurated Gov. Mike Braun would have to notify Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker that he’s appointed members. The group would hold its first meeting within two months of Prtizker picking members to represent Illinois.
Swapping states, however, is unlikely.
Illinois would lose federal funding and Republicans would see their bicameral superminorities further shrink, among other potential Prairie State quibbles. But Illinois would need to approve the move, alongside Indiana. Then, it’d head to the U.S. Congress for approval.
Asked if his proposal was “serious,” Huston noted that 33 Illinois counties have voted to secede from that state — with seven of those votes occurring in the November general election.
“Look, it’s serious, because these people have already decided,” he said.
Voters in Calhoun, Clinton, Greene, Iroquois, Jersey, Madison and Perry counties voted in 2024 to opine on whether they should consider separating from Cook County to form a new state.
Since 2019, at least 25 other counties out of Illinois’ 102 have posed similar questions to voters. With the addition of the seven counties, about 10.9% of Illinois’ population outside of Cook County will have had the chance to vote on the issue since 2019.
In each of the counties that have already considered this, the results have leaned heavily in favor of separation. Between 70% and 83% of voters in those counties favor exploring a split from Cook County, according to Illinois Separation, a group that advocates for these referendums.
The proposal faces long odds of ever coming to fruition. It would require action in Springfield and in Congress and has only happened three times in American history. Kentucky broke from Virginia in 1792, Maine broke from Massachusetts in 1820 and West Virginia broke from Virginia in 1863.
Additionally, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul told Jersey County’s state’s attorney in a 2023 memo that he believed counties without home rule powers do not have the legal authority to secede from the state.
Considering Gov. JB Pritzker’s comments in May 2024, it is unlikely Huston’s commission could get the approval they need from Illinois. Pritzker said proposals to consider succeeding “should not be on the ballot. It shouldn’t be something that’s part of the lexicon and discussion of politicians. We’re one state. We’re supporting each other.”
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