SPRINGFIELD – Three downstate lawmakers want the US Congress to take up an initiative to make Chicago the 51st state. After all, the state and city have been fighting for 200 years.
In a resolution introduced May 25, GOP State Reps. Reginald Phillips - Brad Halbrook and Joe Sosnowski voiced their dismay with the city's politics, its weight to the state's finances and its disagreement with the rest of the state on major social issues.
The dissension between the state's most populated city and the rest of the state has been an issue for 200 years, the resolution says, with previous attempts to sever the state and city's ties.
HR 1138 reads:
WHEREAS, The State of Illinois is often regarded as having two distinct regions, the City of Chicago and downstate Illinois; and
WHEREAS, Even communities north of Chicago are considered "downstate" because they have more in common with rural southern and central Illinois counties than they do with the City of Chicago; and
WHEREAS, The divide between the City of Chicago and downstate Illinois is frequently manifested in electoral results such as the 2010 gubernatorial election in which the Democrat candidate won the election despite only carrying four counties out of 102 counties, and in fact, did not need to carry any other counties to win because of the margin of victory in Chicago and Cook County; and
WHEREAS, The City of Chicago is frequently treated as a separate region of the State and has often been exempted from major legislative initiatives the General Assembly enacts in law because of this fact;
WHEREAS, The City of Chicago is often bailed out by taxpayers in the rest of the State such as the $221 million bailout for the CPS pension system that was signed into law WHEREAS, Numerous counties in the southern and central parts of Illinois are approving resolutions to become sanctuary counties for gun owners, while the City of Chicago has some of the strictest gun laws in the country; and
WHEREAS, The majority of residents in downstate Illinois disagree with City of Chicago residents on key issues such as gun ownership, abortion, immigration, and other policy issues;
WHEREAS, The dissension between downstate Illinois and the City of Chicago spans the nearly 200-year history of the State, and there have been several attempts in the past to divide Illinois into two states; and
WHEREAS, The City of Chicago passed a resolution in 1925 to form the State of Chicago; and
WHEREAS, Western Illinoisans declared their region as the "Republic of Forgottonia"; and
WHEREAS, In 1981, State Senator Howard Carroll passed a Cook County succession bill through both chambers of the State Legislature; and
WHEREAS, There continue to be organizations pushing for separation between the City of Chicago and downstate Illinois such as the "Southern Illinois Secession Movement"; and
WHEREAS, Separation of states continues to be a focus in the news media as there is a movement in California to divide that state into multiple states; therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge the United States Congress to take action to declare the City of Chicago the 51st state of the United States of America and separate it from the rest of Illinois; and be it further
RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be delivered to all Illinois constitutional officers, the Speaker and Minority Leader of the Illinois House of Representatives, and the President and Minority Leader of the Illinois Senate.
The resolution was left in the House Rules Committee at the end of the session on May 31st, 2018.
If Chicago leaves, Cook Goes with it.
If Cook Leaves, the collars go with it.
Why SHOULDN’T Chicago be it’s own state?
Chicago politicians elected to Springfield already write laws for Illinois specifically worded to EXCLUDE Chicago from regulations to which the rest of this state is subjected.
I fully support removing the cancer called Chicago from the rest of the state.
Something must be done to stop Chicago from sucking the life out of the rest of the state.
I like this resolution.
A serious issue. But I honest believe that Chicago and maybe some of the collar counties should be a separate state.
it will never happen.
Good. Leave. Take all your with you, too. Blue rot. 2,000 people left Winnebago County last year. Over 3,000 left Peoria. I could go on. WHY?
Sounds good to me.
About time someone had the guts to do this! Chicago sucks the state coffers dry every year with all their corruption! Wonder why so many people are leaving the state? Taxes, taxes, taxes! I left Illinois in 2000 and moved to Arizona. Best move we ever made!
So two more democratic seats in the Senate…that seems the likely goal. The country would be better off with the continued out migration of conservatives and decent people. Just let Illinois consist of one group of liberals taxing another.
This
Disgraceful panderers. And I bet they spread the lie that downstate subsidizes Chicago, when the opposite is true. Without Chicago, southern IL would have to RAISE taxes, unless they want to go back to dirt roads. Every honest person with a brain knows that Chicago is the economic engine of the state.
Shameful that we pay these slugs a bloated salary and pension for their PART TIME JOBS and this is the kind of nonsense they waste their time on. Even they know it will never happen. Just playing to the gullible rubes who keep electing their worthless butts. If this is all they are going to sit around and do, they should go get real jobs and make room for serious people.
Some comments are so precious. It will also be precious when people realize 20% of the money we downstaters get back from taxes comes from Chicago. For every dollar in taxes collected in the Chicago area, they only get 80 cents back. The rest comes to us. I guess if you want to give up billions of tax dollars then getting rid of Chicago is the way to do it. I know they would love to keep the money they currently send South.
the truth-please provide links to prove your statements.
Thank you
I always find it interesting that any time this kind of discussion comes up, the Chicagoans opposed argue that making Chicago a separate state would be such a bad deal for the ‘downstaters’.
You too HW
Hi
Term Limits,
The extra charges of a government on the purchasing of property for small business startup in the form of general country tax can be eliminate by using accounting tips easily with in a seven days according to the rules and regulations of a government,If you write an application with the authentic reasons for a elimination of property tax and also attached a legal documents of a property tax pairs after that submitted in the government office by the tax layers which is helpful for you to approved the claim of your property tax in the seven days without any allegations of a government on the application of your property tax ,Remember don’t write any irreverent reasons in the applications of property tax you want to submit in the office of government and also don’t attached any illegal or extra document of property which increase the chances to refuse or neglect your claim application ,So keep it in your mind all the instructions and requirements given to you by the tax layer after concerning this kind of matter according to the current policy of government .
Thanks
Uh, huh. So, how will the suburbs fit into this fantasy of theirs and what happens to Article Four of the US Constitution?