Full Text of HR0102 102nd General Assembly
HR0102 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 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
| 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
| 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 19 | | WHEREAS, Amendment XIV of the U.S. Constitution guarantees | 20 | | equal protection under the laws; and | 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 | 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 | 7 | | WHEREAS, The City of Chicago passed a resolution in 1925 | 8 | | to form the State of Chicago; and | 9 | | WHEREAS, In 1971, West Central Illinoisans declared their | 10 | | region the "Republic of Forgottonia"; and | 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
| 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
| 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
| 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
| 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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