A New Bill Would Make Galena, Jo Daviess County Part of Iowa

Yet again, a bill is making its way through the Iowa Legislature proposing a committee to discuss annexing counties of a nearby state. This time, it's counties along the Iowa-Illinois border.

The move recalls a proposal last year which would've allowed Iowa to buy nine southern Minnesota counties. That bill never made it out of subcommittee, per KCRG.

READ MORE: Iowa's Bold Plan to Absorb Nine Minnesota Counties Moves Forward

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Say it Aloud: Galena, IA?:

Rep. Taylor Collins (R-Mediapolis) proposed a bill that would have Iowa absorbing several counties bordering on the state, including Jo Daviess County.

Per KCRG, seeing both sides of the issue is Earl Thompson, owner of Galena Roasters, who has lived in Galena, IL for 30 years. Main Street in Galena generates over $550 million a year. He sees Galena other rural Illinois communities being absorbed by Iowa as a real positive given the state of Illinois' emphasis largely being centered around Chicago:

Iowa property taxes are lower. I think a lot of people complain that Illinois politics is dominated by Chicago. I understand what they’re saying as far as representation [....] Change tends to disrupt the normal and in a tourism locality, you want to build on the normal. We are very rooted in Illinois tourism that would probably, to let go of that would be difficult - Earl Thompson, per KCRG

Thompson called the bill "ideological legislation" that he doesn't foresee advancing very far. There's reason to have that kind of intense skepticism. On top of there being no movement on Iowa annexing several Minnesota counties, Indiana wanted to take a chunk out of Illinois. Both states have not grown nor decreased in size since.

READ MORE: Indiana Wants to Absorb a Significant Chunk of Illinois

As of this writing, the bill hasn't been considered yet, and would require both the approval of Iowa and Illinois governments, which inherently makes a move like this incredibly difficult. Read more about the prospect of Iowa annexing Illinois counties on KCRG's website.