INDIANAPOLIS — A bill that could help Indiana absorb nearly three-dozen Illinois counties breezed through committee Monday — although a border shakeup appears unlikely.

Republican House Speaker Todd Huston’s proposal would create an Indiana-Illinois Boundary Adjustment Commission tasked with exploring the secession and transfer of counties that have already voted to leave the state of Illinois.

Huston said House Bill 1008 , part of the majority caucus’ priority agenda , seeks to show disgruntled Illinois residents that Indiana “welcomes” those counties “to consider joining our state.”

“We don’t want to see our neighbors to the west languish. Ultimately, their success or failure affects our own success or failure. But it’s up to them to change their course,” Huston said before the House government committee on Monday. “In the meantime, to Illinois counties and residents feeling unheard and underrepresented, we hear you. We’d like to invite you to come back home again to Indiana.”

A push for Illinois counties to separate has been ongoing for at least a decade but is gaining traction. Since 2020, 33 Illinois counties have passed “advisory referenda” to secede from the Prairie State — with seven of those votes occurring in the November general election.

Local officials — many from rural counties in southern and central parts of Illinois — cited frustrations over high taxes, as well as the wide cultural divide between rural Illinois and urban Chicago.

The referenda language involved the counties splitting off to create a new, 51st state — not joining Indiana. Some who testified at Indiana’s Statehouse still preferred a new state, but several were open to Huston’s idea.

“Our biggest grievance is that we are not represented,” said Gina Merritt, chair of the nonprofit New Illinois, a group that aims to form an entirely new state. “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.”

Huston offering a bill is novel because the House Speaker usually doesn’t author legislation.

‘More in common with Indiana’

The proposed commission would have five appointed Hoosier lawmakers and five appointees from Illinois.

After naming Indiana’s members, 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 isn’t guaranteed — or likely, however.

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.

Pritzker, a Democrat, is not on board. Last month, he called the Indiana bill “a stunt” that is “not going to happen.”

“I’ll just say 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 it’s attractive for anybody in Illinois where wages are higher where the standard of living is higher, and we do provide health care for people in need,” Pritzker said when asked about the bill.

The Illinois Attorney General additionally issued an opinion that counties can’t leave the state on their own . It’s the same conclusion reached by the United States Supreme Court in 1907, in Hunter v. Pittsburgh , when justices ruled that counties “are political subdivisions of the state, created by it and at all times wholly under its legislative control.”

Illinois has a population of almost 13 million, with roughly half residing in the greater Chicago area.

Those who testified on Monday said that gives Chicago a dominant position in Illinois state government and “ensures” the state’s strong Democratic control. But while most Illinoisans live in Democratic districts, the majority of the state’s land is in rural communities dominated by Republican politicians.