The Indiana-Illinois Boundary Adjustment Commission held its first meeting Wednesday — though without any members from Illinois — and heard testimony from four people in favor of downstate Illinois counties splitting away from their home state in some form.
The commission has been tasked with discussing and recommending whether the boundary between Indiana and Illinois should be adjusted. Within 60 days of completing its work, the commission will have to submit a written report to the general assembly, according to a new state law.
Indiana House Enrolled Act 1008, authored by Speaker Todd Huston, established an Indiana-Illinois boundary adjustment commission to research the possibility of adjusting the boundaries between the two states.
Huston, R-Fishers, said he drafted the bill after learning that 33 Illinois counties have voted to secede from their state since 2020.
Under the law, Indiana could have six members and Illinois could have five members. A quorum of six members is required for the commission to take official action, the law states, but a quorum isn’t required for the commission to meet, listen to testimony and hold discussion.
Ultimately, the commission’s recommendation to adjust the boundary would have to be approved by the Indiana legislature, the Illinois legislature and the U.S. Congress, according to the law.
G.H. Merritt, chair of New Illinois, testified before the commission that her organization would like to see parts of Illinois split away from the state to establish a new state. But, Merritt said the organization appreciates Indiana leaders hearing the organization’s grievances and acknowledges that downstate Illinois has more in common with the Hoosier state.
“Our goal is the constitutional formation of a new state separate from the state of Illinois,” Merritt said.
New Illinois wouldn’t support Indiana absorbing the 33 counties from downstate Indiana because it would undermine its efforts, Merritt said. The only way New Illinois could support this effort is if Indiana were to take all 101 Illinois counties besides Cook County, Merritt said.
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Merritt said she was surprised when she received a call from Huston’s office about the possibility of Indiana absorbing some Illinois counties because of the debt Indiana would have to take on.
“We have never expected any surrounding state to be interested in taking a piece of this state because it could be financially not an advisable move,” Merritt said. “… (Huston’s) first question to me was ‘Why do you want to do this?’ and my reply to him was, ‘Why do you want to do this?’ Because of the reason that I told you the debt would just make this prohibitively expensive.”
Merritt said the representative with Huston’s office told her that leadership realized any potential move of the state boundary wouldn’t happen because Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker wouldn’t appoint members to the group.
“He told me that Indiana’s motive for doing this was to send a message to Gov. Pritzker and (Chicago) Mayor (Brandon) Johnson to correct course,” Merritt said.
Molly Gillaspie, Huston’s spokeswoman, said the speaker “has always pursued this in earnest while acknowledging it was not very likely that Illinois would make their appointments to the commission.”
“When a third of counties in Illinois have expressed their dissatisfaction and voted to secede from their state, I’d say you should take that seriously,” Huston said in a statement. “We certainly take it seriously, we hear their frustrations, and we welcome them to the Hoosier State. I look forward to hearing the Commission’s recommendations on a path forward, and if and when Illinois comes to the table, we will be ready.”
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker brushed off the proposal — and fired back at the neighboring state — when he was asked about it at a January news conference.
“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.”
Illinois State Rep. Brad Halbrook, R-Shelbyville, filed Illinois House Bill 1500, which “does similar things and is comparable to the Indiana bill,” he previously said. Halbrook’s bill stated that if Indiana House Bill 1008 became law, then, within 60 days after receiving notice from the Governor of Indiana, the Illinois Governor should appoint five members to the Illinois-Indiana boundary adjustment commission.
Halbrook said Thursday he was “pleased to see that our neighbors in Indiana are taking seriously the plight of so many Illinoisans.”
“The fact that Indiana has formed a commission to examine this issue shows just how visible Illinois’ dysfunction has become beyond our own borders,” Halbrook said. “These discussions are important and worth having.”
Laurette Newland, with Illinois Separation Referendum, said her group has three factions: those who would like to join a neighboring state, those who want to form a new state, and those who don’t care “as long as Cook County is not in it.”
When the organization led the charge on Illinois secession referenda, voters were asked about separating from Illinois and not joining Indiana, Newland said.
“It is incorrect to assume that everyone who voted yes for the ISR would be equally happy to join Indiana or any other state,” Newland said. “We can’t know the consent of the governed without a separate referendum that states moving the boundaries to become part of Indiana.”
Scott Carpenter of Downstate Illinois Secession said Indiana should consider absorbing 74 Illinois counties, which counted 2.8 million people in 2018, in southern and central Illinois. If not all 74 counties, then Carpenter recommended some eastern counties with higher average income than Indiana.
“One reason Illinois may eventually want to get rid of these counties is that Illinois’ budget is based on high income tax rates, so these counties are a big drain on Illinois’ budget but would not be a big drain on Indiana’s state budget because Indiana’s tax structure is different,” Carpenter said.
“Some might argue that this whole commission is a waste of time because the government of Illinois would not agree to let these counties go, but it might not be long before a debt crisis could suddenly force the government of Illinois to need a massive influx of money,” Carpenter said. “Moving the state line could be the only solution that can provide that influx of money.”
While Indiana has a budgetary surplus, the 2024 State of the States report found Illinois had $51.5 billion to cover $224.3 billion worth of bills, which led to a $172.8 billion budget shortfall.
Downstate Illinois Secession member Eric Ivers said forming a new state has been “a nonstarter” for him because it’s unlikely Congress would approve that. But, moving parts of Illinois to another state, like Indiana, would make more sense because it wouldn’t change Congressional districts, he said.
“We are essentially a drain on the Chicago area of Illinois, and they remind us of that regularly. They spend more money here than we send them,” Ivers said. “The change in the state governance would allow southern Illinois to become much more productive because we would no longer have to deal with the limitations placed on us by Chicago.”
At the start of the meeting, the commission voted for Jeff Papa, chief of staff and general counsel for the Indiana Senate, to be chair and Greg Newman, Posey County Commissioner and Posey County Republican Party chairman, to be vice chair.
The other members of the board include: Clay Andrews, a farmer, Warren County Commissioner and Warren County Republican Party chairman; former State. Rep. Don Lehe of Brookston; Ray McCammon, a farmer and former Sullivan County Commissioner; and Mark Seib, a semi-retired farmer from Posey County.
The board agreed to meet again in early 2026, but didn’t set a date at the meeting.
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