Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
House Republicans are pursuing legislation that would allow the state to absorb disgruntled Illinois counties, shifting the Indiana-Illinois border, the caucus unveiled in a Tuesday morning news conference.
Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, filed House Bill 1008 to create a boundary adjustment commission that would study whether to recommend absorption of Illinois counties that want to secede from the Democrat-led state. The board would include five Hoosier members appointed by the governor and five from Illinois to discuss the possibility of shifting the border, according to the bill.
Last election, seven Illinois counties joined at least 20 others to greenlight a proposal to explore splitting from the state. Some counties border Indiana, but others, like Madison County, which borders Missouri, don’t. Huston said they are considering both bordering and inland counties.
“We think instead of seceding and creating a 51st state, they should just join us,” Huston said. “We match their priorities, their interests, and we’re excited about having that conversation this year.”
Illinois counties do not have the power to secede, and such a move would require approval from the Illinois General Assembly and U.S. Congress.
When asked if the bill was serious, Huston said the bill was not trying to stir trouble but address the concerns of Illinois residents.
Besides Huston’s bill, Republican leaders say a balanced budget continues to be a top priority. Rising Medicaid prices and slowing revenue have tightened the budget drafting process.
Ways and Means Committee Chair Rep. Jeff Thompson, R-Lizton, said the caucus’ priorities would be funded, despite revenue challenges. That bill, introduced as House Bill 1001, will be filed later this session closer to the halfway point.
House Republicans filed a slew of bills on trademark issues, such as education reform, health care costs, utilities and energy, public safety and housing. Huston said they are relying on the Senate to lead on property tax reform. Senate Republicans named property tax reform, Medicaid adjustments and water withdrawals among their top priorities last week.
To combat new industries using more energy, Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, has filed House Bill 1007 to grow the state’s nuclear capacity through small modular reactors, or SMRs. These energy generators are prefabricated plants that are a fraction of the size of a traditional nuclear power plant.
This bill would expedite the process of expanding and building energy sources, said Soliday, who is the chair of the Utilities, Energy and Telecommunications Committee.
“Indiana’s economy is booming, but most of these new businesses need more electricity,” Soliday said. “We need new and innovative systems.”
Reps. Brad Barrett, R-Richmond, and Martin Carbaugh, R-Fort Wayne, are each filing bills to reduce health care costs—which is also a major policy priority for Gov. Mike Braun.
Public Health Committee Chair Barrett’s House Bill 1003 seeks to install measures to increase price transparency and the amount of information Hoosiers have about their treatment. Insurance Committee Chair Carbaugh’s House Bill 1004 would more closely police nonprofit hospitals and what they charge for services.
House Education Committee Chair Rep. Bob Behning, R-Indianapolis, said his priority bill, House Bill 1002, would edit or remove at least 70 provisions, requirements and policies for K-12 schools. Behning said the bill would reduce regulatory burdens and install more flexibility. Some regulations he recommends cutting are expired, he said, including requirements to provide 21st Century Scholars enrollment forms to certain students, a career coaching pilot program and virtual course retakes.
House Bill 1005, authored by Rep. Doug Miller, R-Elkhart, would expand the state’s Residential Housing Infrastructure Assistance Program by $25 million to provide housing infrastructure loans. Miller is the Government and Regulatory Reform Committee chair.
Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Chris Jeter, R-Fishers, also filed House Bill 1006, which would establish a new fund for prosecutors.
Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to note that Speaker Todd Huston is from Fishers.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.
Republicans would have you believe they are doing such a good job they are out prospecting. What a joke.
I can always tell when I get into Illinois because the quality of the roads improves dramatically.
It’s nice to know that Republicans are drafting their budget bill in private caucus and will ram it down our throats when they’re good and ready for us to take it.
Sure, let’s pretend that a state’s borders are malleable and can be moved, by the whims of its border inhabitants and whatever grass they deem greener, that state borders haven’t been fixed for some 200 years. While we are at it, let’s go ahead and game plan a succession from the Union in case those nutcase Dems ever get ahold of anything again. We want to be ready to act right?!
Every single second spent on this agenda is a dereliction of the duties of our so-called ‘leaders’. Stop doodling on your napkin, and get to work.
Good grief. Every biennium, we’re told that they’re “going to focus on the budget” and then Republicans waste time and money exploring this frivolous nonsense and “addressing the concerns of Illinois residents.”
YOU ARE A REPRESENTATIVE FOR INDIANA. You aren’t even a Congressmember! Your responsibilities stop at the State line. Instead of finding ways to sell off Indianapolis’s and Gary’s public schools to the lowest bidder and asking residents of an entirely different State what they would want from us, maybe focus on problems that matter, like our skyrocketing infant mortality rate.
Pritzker has balanced Illinois’ budget while improving public services. They used their surplus to actually spend on things that were needed by the people of the State. Maybe Indiana Republicans could learn a thing or two.
Similar to blue states subsidizing red states, these counties are likely red and being subsidized by Illinois’s blue counties. No thanks.
Low IQ idea but still smarter than thinking we can buy Greenland.
Silly and what a waste of time and energy. Hoosiers, as a whole (not everyone mind you) are fat, poorly educated, and not very well paid. This is what our lawmakers come up with — yet alone spend time to even imagine? There’s a reason the best and the brightest either leave Indiana when they can, or avoid it altogether. I fear this is some continuing culture wars red state/blue state thing. Gads!
I don’t think Todd Huston gets reelected after this stupid waste of time of trying to acquire parts of Illinois. Come on, man. Thank goodness there are lots of other Republicans to carry the less than optimal ones.
I am 100% certain that the people who were elected to the Indiana Legislature were elected to represent the people of Indiana, NOT the people of Illinois. We aren’t going to annex any of Illinois any more than we are going to annex Greenland. For heaven’s sake. Could they please pay attention to the needs that we have here in our state? We have plenty.
Prime Minister of Greenland is wanting to talk to Trump about becoming part of the United States. You may want to know what you are talking about before you type.
Beth, that’s not what is happening at all.
“Frederiksen, in her call with Trump, reiterated Greenland Prime Minister Múte Egede’s statement “that Greenland is not for sale,” according to a Danish press release. Denmark has sent Trump private messages expressing willingness to discuss boosting security in Greenland or increasing the U.S. military presence on the island, Axios previously reported.” – Axios, January 15, 2025, 3:30 PM
Beth – Please don’t post completely false information. You may want to know what your are talking about before you type.
Illinois should jump at Indiana’s offer and off-load a bunch of rural counties that receive more than they contribute.
I see a bunch of keyboard warriors on here that have probably never come up with any real ideas of their own. They just sit online complaining about the difference maker with the courage to take action. Clowns
Beth, I think you want to participate in more threads and be here longer before you start making accusations like that.
This is legitimately the best idea that Indiana Republicans have brought forward in many years. It’s still absolutely harebrained slop, but at least they’re keeping their minds out of the gutter.
We don’t need these people. They have no ideas, just a massive circus.