A bill to redraw the Indiana-Illinois border received initial approval Monday in an Indiana House committee, but the discussion opened up a Pandora’s box, with some of its Illinois supporters preferring to establish a new state and a Lake County representative suggesting that it could in turn secede from Indiana.
Indiana House Bill 1008, authored by Speaker Todd Huston, would establish an Indiana-Illinois boundary adjustment commission to research the possibility of adjusting the boundaries between the two states. The commission would include five members appointed by the Indiana governor and five members appointed under Illinois law.
Huston, R-Fishers, said he drafted the bill after he learned that nearly three dozen Illinois counties have voted in recent years to leave the state.
In November, seven Illinois counties — Iroquois, Calhoun, Clinton, Greene, Jersey, Madison and Perry counties — voted to secede from the state. Iroquois County is along the Indiana border, the remaining six counties are closer to Missouri.
Huston testified before the House Government and Regulatory Reform committee Monday about the ballot measure results. He also said that since the COVID-19 pandemic more than 100,000 people from Illinois have moved to Indiana.
Indiana has a balanced budget, a triple a credit rating, low debt, a growing economy and school voucher programs, Huston said. Illinois has an unfunded pension debt, high taxes and fewer options for school choice, he said.
“We don’t want to see our neighbors to the west languish. Ultimately, their success or failure affects our own success or failure,” Huston said. “To the Illinois counties and residents feeling unheard and unrepresented, we hear you and we’d like to invite you to come back home again to Indiana.”
To change a state line, the U.S. Constitution dictates that the Indiana legislature, the Illinois legislature and then Congress would have to approve the measure, said Indiana University Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs professor Paul Helmke.
The bill focuses on the politics, Helmke said, because the Illinois residents who voted to secede live in conservative Republican counties and they don’t like living in a Democratic-led state. The action faces an uphill battle, Helmke said, and it’s very unlikely that the Indiana-Illinois border will shift.
“It’s sort of a useless measure. Nothing exactly like this has happened in U.S. history before, and I think it’s unlikely to happen here,” Helmke said. “It’s an interesting idea, but it’s not going to go anywhere.”
House Bill 1008 begins the conversation of moving the state line, Huston said. Illinois State Rep. Brad Halbrook, R-Shelbyville, has filed a companion bill in Illinois, Huston said.
Halbrook said he filed Illinois House Bill 1500 that is a companion bill to Indiana’s House Bill 1008. Halbrook said his bill “does similar things and is comparable to the Indiana bill.”
Illinois House Bill 1500 hasn’t been assigned to committee yet, Halbrook said. But, with Indiana taking action, Halbrook said he hopes his bill will move forward.
“It’s time for Illinois lawmakers to follow Indiana’s lead and take action,” Halbrook said. “With Indiana moving forward, Illinois risks falling behind on an issue that deserves immediate attention.”
Gov. JB Pritzker brushed off the proposal — and fired back at the neighboring state — when he was asked about it at an unrelated news conference last month.
“It’s a stunt. It’s not going to happen,” Pritzker said. “But I’ll just say that Indiana is a low wage state that doesn’t protect workers, a state that does not provide health care for people in need, and so I don’t think it’s very attractive for anybody in Illinois.”
State Rep. David Abbott, R-Rome City, said his brother-in-law lives in Central Illinois and has said his community is excited about the possibility of joining Indiana.
“A lot of the counties are just waiting to see what happens with this and they’re on the verge of wanting to jump on,” Abbott said.
State Rep. Chris Campbell, D-West Lafayette, asked Huston if he considered the fiscal impact to Indiana of absorbing the proposed rural areas of Illinois. Huston said the commission would review the fiscal impact.
“This is just raising our hand to a group of people that feel disenfranchised, who feel like their voice hasn’t been heard. They’re not being represented,” Huston said. “Some of them are going to talk about succeeding. That’s certainly one path to go. We’re just raising our hands to say, ‘look this is a great opportunity to have a discussion.’”
G.H. Merritt, chairwoman of New Illinois, was one of six people to testify before the committee in favor of the bill. Two organizations in Illinois are working toward succeeding from Illinois and creating a new state, Merritt said.
“Our biggest grievance is that we are not represented. We don’t have government of the people, by the people and for the people. Our governor accuses us of wanting to kick Chicago out of Illinois. Not so, we want to kick ourselves out of Illinois,” Merritt said. “Our goal is the constitutional formation of a new state separate from Illinois.”
Illinois outside of Cook County has more in common with Indiana, Merritt said, like fiscal discipline and lower taxes.
“We very much appreciate that you see us, that you hear us, that you empathize with our experience. We wish our own state government would do the same,” Merritt said. “We thank the leadership of Indiana for recognizing our pain.”
Mike Speedy, Indiana’s Secretary of Business Affairs, said that Gov. Mike Braun supports House Bill 1008 because Illinoisians want to be a part of a “pro-opportunity and pro-business” state.
“Illinoisians have noticed the stark contrast between the low tax and spending of our state and that of their own bloated state government and want the freedom that Indiana affords,” Speedy said. “When I first heard about this bill, I had to ask the question ‘Who wouldn’t want to join Indiana?’”
State Rep. Ragen Hatcher, D-Gary, said the majority of Lake County residents feel similarly to the way the downstate Illinois residents feel about representation in its state government.
Hatcher asked Huston if the commission would look at ways for Lake County to move to Illinois because it more aligns with the views and politics of Illinois.
“Is this a two-way street or is it a one-way street?” Hatcher said.
Anything could be considered, Huston said, but he also strongly cautioned against the idea.
“I’d think you’d want to take a good, hard, long look before you consider heading west what the consequences and the challenges that you might face,” Huston said.
Hatcher asked Huston if the bill was proposed based on the fiscal benefits for Illinois residents who would become part of Indiana or political benefits for Indiana. Huston said the bill wasn’t proposed based on a political advantage for Indiana because the political landscape could shift decades down the line.
The bill passed out of committee in an 11-1 vote, with Campbell voting against it.
“The grass is not always greener,” Campbell said. “I’m not ready to disrupt the constitutions that we have created in our states and in our country. I think that this creates the great divide of the red and blue states. I don’t like the message that it sends.”
Hatcher voted in favor of the bill because it shows that Indiana cares about how other people perceive the types of government they live within. Hatcher said she hoped the legislature would show the same understanding to northern Lake County.
“I hope that possibly this is a two-way street,” Hatcher said. “Maybe this is a start for everyone.”
House Bill 1008 will move forward for consideration by the House.
