Indiana Gov. Braun Signs Bill Creating Commission on Illinois Border Counties, Medicaid Work Rule

Indiana Gov. Mike Braun signed House Enrolled Act 1008 and Senate Enrolled Act 2 into law, according to reporting from the Indiana Capital Chronicle and Eagle Country 99.3. House Enrolled Act 1008, authored by Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston, establishes the Indiana-Illinois Boundary Adjustment Commission to study the potential absorption of Illinois counties that have voted to secede from Illinois into Indiana. The commission will include six members appointed by Indiana's governor and five appointed under Illinois law. According to Eagle Country 99.3, 33 Illinois counties have voted to secede from Illinois since 2020, prompting the legislative response. Senate Enrolled Act 2 requires enrollees in the Healthy Indiana Plan, the state's Medicaid expansion program, to work or volunteer 20 hours per week or risk losing benefits; implementation is contingent on federal approval. The Indiana Capital Chronicle reported that Braun signed both measures as part of a broader batch of more than fifty bills, which also included a transportation infrastructure funding overhaul easing tolling barriers and raising the speed limit on I-465. The boundary commission's work is preliminary, tasked with evaluating rather than immediately executing any redrawing of the Indiana-Illinois state line, and any formal boundary change would require further action beyond the commission's study. The timeline for federal approval of the Medicaid work requirement remains unresolved, as does the commission's specific timeline for producing findings or recommendations. Details on which of the 33 Illinois counties would be considered for absorption, and Illinois's formal response to the commission's creation, were not addressed in the available reporting.