Bill Text: IL HR0102 | 2021-2022 | 102nd General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Urges the U.S. Congress to make the Chicago area the 51st state in the country.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-07-18 - Rule 19(b) / Re-referred to Rules Committee [HR0102 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2021-HR0102-Introduced.html
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1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, The State of Illinois is often regarded as having | ||||||
3 | two distinct regions, the urban Cook County area and downstate | ||||||
4 | Illinois; and
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5 | WHEREAS, Even communities north of Chicago are considered | ||||||
6 | "downstate" because their needs, interests, economies, and | ||||||
7 | cultures have more in common with rural southern and central | ||||||
8 | Illinois counties than they do with urban Cook County; and
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9 | WHEREAS, The majority of residents in downstate Illinois | ||||||
10 | disagree with urban Cook County on key policy issues; for | ||||||
11 | example, 61 outstate Illinois counties, from the Wisconsin | ||||||
12 | state line to the Kentucky state line, have approved | ||||||
13 | resolutions to become sanctuary counties for gun owners, while | ||||||
14 | the City of Chicago has some of the strictest gun laws in the | ||||||
15 | country; and
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16 | WHEREAS, The divide between urban Cook County and the rest | ||||||
17 | of Illinois is frequently manifested in electoral results such | ||||||
18 | as the 2010 gubernatorial election in which the winning | ||||||
19 | candidate carried only four out of 102 counties and, in fact, | ||||||
20 | did not need to carry any other counties to win because of the | ||||||
21 | margin of victory in urban Cook County; and
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1 | WHEREAS, The U.S. Supreme Court ruling Reynolds v. Sims | ||||||
2 | (1964) removed the geographic element from districting for the | ||||||
3 | state legislature, and, as Illinois' U.S. Senator Everett | ||||||
4 | Dirksen warned, this caused power to be concentrated in | ||||||
5 | Chicago and resulted in rural areas losing their voice in | ||||||
6 | state government; and
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7 | WHEREAS, Article IV Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution | ||||||
8 | guarantees a republican form of government, but the people of | ||||||
9 | rural, small town and suburban outstate Illinois do not | ||||||
10 | experience this; and
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11 | WHEREAS, This concentration of power in Illinois' largest | ||||||
12 | urban area opened the door to extreme gerrymandering and | ||||||
13 | further decreased the voice of outstate Illinoisans; | ||||||
14 | gerrymandering has enabled one county, with 40% of the state | ||||||
15 | population, to dominate the other 60%; and
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16 | WHEREAS, Article IV, Section 3(a) of the Illinois | ||||||
17 | Constitution requires districts to be compact; both state and | ||||||
18 | federal districts have shapes resembling snakes, dinosaurs, | ||||||
19 | gloves, jaws, and a pipe wrench; this includes the "earmuffs" | ||||||
20 | district, which The Economist called one of the "most | ||||||
21 | strangely drawn and gerrymandered congressional districts in | ||||||
22 | the country"; and
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1 | WHEREAS, Article I, Section 1 of the Illinois Constitution | ||||||
2 | Bill of Rights declares that all men are by nature free and | ||||||
3 | independent and have certain inherent and inalienable rights | ||||||
4 | among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; | ||||||
5 | to secure these rights and the protection of property, | ||||||
6 | governments are instituted among men, deriving their just | ||||||
7 | powers from the consent of the governed; and
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8 | WHEREAS, The lack of representative government has | ||||||
9 | decreased accountability, has allowed corruption to flourish, | ||||||
10 | and has led to Illinois being rated the third most corrupt | ||||||
11 | state and Chicago the most corrupt city in the nation; and
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12 | WHEREAS, This has led to the government of Illinois having | ||||||
13 | the worst financial health of all 50 states, while giving the | ||||||
14 | people of Illinois the greatest collective state and local tax | ||||||
15 | burden of all 50 states, and because the General Assembly is | ||||||
16 | dominated by one county, the people of downstate Illinois have | ||||||
17 | experienced legislation, taxation, and regulation without | ||||||
18 | representation; and
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19 | WHEREAS, Amendment XIV of the U.S. Constitution guarantees | ||||||
20 | equal protection under the laws; and
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21 | WHEREAS, The City of Chicago is frequently treated as a | ||||||
22 | separate region of the State and has often been exempted from |
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1 | major legislative initiatives the General Assembly enacts into | ||||||
2 | law because of this fact; and
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3 | WHEREAS, The divide between rural, small town, and | ||||||
4 | suburban Illinois and the City of Chicago spans the 200-year | ||||||
5 | history of the State, and there have been several attempts in | ||||||
6 | the past to split Illinois into two states; and
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7 | WHEREAS, The City of Chicago passed a resolution in 1925 | ||||||
8 | to form the State of Chicago; and
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9 | WHEREAS, In 1971, West Central Illinoisans declared their | ||||||
10 | region the "Republic of Forgottonia"; and
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11 | WHEREAS, In 1981, Democrat State Senator Howard Carroll of | ||||||
12 | Chicago passed a Cook County state split bill through both | ||||||
13 | chambers of the legislature; and
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14 | WHEREAS, Organizations, such as New Illinois, Illinois | ||||||
15 | Separation, and The State of Southern Illinois, continue | ||||||
16 | pushing for the formation of a new state truly representing | ||||||
17 | the rural, small town, and suburban residents of Illinois; and
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18 | WHEREAS, In 2020, an advisory referendum for the creation | ||||||
19 | of a new state appeared on the ballots in 22 counties and, in | ||||||
20 | each county, won by a landslide of 70-80%; and
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1 | WHEREAS, Article IV, Section 3 of the Constitution of the | ||||||
2 | United States provides in part: "New States may be admitted by | ||||||
3 | Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or | ||||||
4 | erected within the Jurisdiction of any other state; nor any | ||||||
5 | State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts | ||||||
6 | of States, without the consent of the Legislatures of the | ||||||
7 | States concerned as well as of the Congress"; four states in | ||||||
8 | the Union have been formed by this process, most recently West | ||||||
9 | Virginia; therefore, be it
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10 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | ||||||
11 | HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
12 | we urge the United States Congress to take action to declare | ||||||
13 | the 101 counties of outstate Illinois, along with outlying | ||||||
14 | areas of Cook County wishing to be included, the 51st state of | ||||||
15 | the United States of America and separate it from the rest of | ||||||
16 | Illinois; and be it further
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17 | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | ||||||
18 | delivered to all Illinois constitutional officers, the Speaker | ||||||
19 | and Minority Leader of the Illinois House of Representatives, | ||||||
20 | and the President and Minority Leader of the Illinois Senate.
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