INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana House committee has advanced a bill to start the process of potentially annexing counties from Illinois.

House Bill 1008, authored by Indiana Speaker Rep. Todd Huston (R-District 37), passed out of the Committee on Government and Regulatory Reform on Monday, Feb. 17, 2025.

The bill would create a commission of people from Illinois and Indiana to discuss the possibility of Indiana annexing counties from Illinois.

At least 33 Illinois counties have held "advisory referenda," where voters chose their desire to not be in the same state as Chicago. But the process of getting those counties into Indiana goes through both state houses and, likely, Washington, D.C.

(NOTE: Counties marked in purple have voted to leave the state of Illinois in a variety of "advisory referenda." Seven of them made that vote in 2024.)

Huston's proposal for Illinois counties to join Indiana was a surprise to the organizers pushing for secession across the border.

"I think it's awesome that he's taking this seriously," G.H. Merritt said. She is the chairman of the board of New Illinois , a grassroots group in Illinois pushing for counties to leave the state.

"But there are things about this that it didn't seem he was aware of," Merritt said, in a phone call with 13News.

Merritt said that under the U.S. Constitution, you need the approval of a state legislature and Congress for counties to leave a state. And for state's to redraw their borders, "you'd need the consent of both legislatures and Congress."

That would be tough. Republicans hold a supermajority in Indiana, but Democrats hold a supermajority in Illinois. Illinois leaders have expressed zero interest in allowing counties to leave the state.