Boundary commission formed to examine redrawing Indiana-Illinois border

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (WTVO) — Indiana Governor Mike Brown has appointed five people to the Indiana-Illinois Boundary Commission to explore the possibility of adjusting the boundaries between the two states.

A quorum of six members is required for the commission to have voting power, but the appointed members can still meet, listen to testimony, and hold discussions.

While Indiana has taken steps by passing a law in April to begin the process of absorbing Illinois counties that wish to break away, Illinois has not yet approved a bill to appoint members to the commission.

Illinois Representative Brad Halbrook introduced a companion bill, HB1500, which would have provided Illinois representatives to the commission, but it failed in the House.

All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by WTVO. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat from a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by WTVO staff before being published.