One of the proposed “Greater Idaho” maps, which calls for several Eastern Oregon counties to secede and join Idaho.
By CLARK CORBIN/Idaho Capital Sun
BOISE — Two Idaho legislators are pushing a longshot proposal to have certain rural eastern Oregon counties secede from the state and join Idaho.
Reps. Judy Boyle, R-Midvale, and Barbara Ehardt, R-Idaho Falls, are sponsoring House Joint Memorial 1, a nonbinding petition that invites the Oregon Legislature to begin discussions with the Idaho Legislature about the potential to relocate the Idaho/Oregon border.
The House State Affairs Committee voted to introduce the memorial with little discussion. The issue can be traced to the so-called Greater Idaho movement, which calls for relocating 11 or more Oregon counties in Idaho. Greater Idaho movement supporters say Idaho is more politically and economically aligned with eastern Oregon than Portland and western Oregon.
“For quite a few years now, eastern Oregon has been quite unhappy with their state — Portland seems to run everything there — and they have been asking for quite some time if they could move the border and become part of Idaho,” Boyle told the House State Affairs Committee.
In order for the border to change, the Idaho Legislature and Oregon Legislature would have to sign off, and it would require an act of Congress. There are all sorts of potential stumbling blocks to such a move, including major policy differences on minimum wage, marijuana, sales tax and income tax rates between Idaho and Oregon.
Although small adjustments to state borders have been made, large, widespread secessions and state border changes like the one proposed have not occurred since the Civil War.
Several Oregon counties have voted on proposals related to the Greater Idaho movement. Voters in 11 Oregon counties — Baker, Grant, Harney, Jefferson, Klamath, Lake, Malheur, Morrow, Sherman, Union and Wheeler counties — have either voted to have their county commissioners discuss moving the border or request state legislators use taxpayer money to explore the issue, the Idaho Capital Sun and Oregon Public Broadcasting have previously reported.
On the other hand, voters in Douglas and Josephine counties in Oregon voted against proposals designed to promote or explore moving the states’ border in May 2022. Voters in Oregon’s Wallowa County rejected a similar proposal in 2020, but Greater Idaho supporters say Wallow County residents will vote on a proposal again in May.
The proposal doesn’t seem to be identified by Idahoans as a major concern thus far.
A recent public policy survey from Boise State University found that 56% of Idahoans say their property taxes are too high and they support reducing property taxes and repealing the sales tax on food, which is sometimes called the grocery tax. According to the survey results, Idahoans are worried about economic conditions worsening in the state and their top legislative priorities are for education, jobs, the economy and housing. The Idaho Legislature hasn’t produced major property tax legislation yet this session or legislation addressing several of those issues Idahoans identified as priorities, but a secession movement that supporters say is designed to help residents of eastern Oregon now has a toehold in the Idaho Legislature with the introduction of House Joint Memorial 1.
- The Idaho Capital Sun and the Oregon Capital Chronicle are part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) nonprofit.
Greater Idaho will never happen. The U.S. system is already tilted against urban areas badly by giving rural states the same two senators that big states get. The two Dakotas have as many U.S. senators as New York and California. The electoral college also is biased toward dominantly red states. So the last thing we need is to allow more consolidation of anti-democratic right-wing power via unconstitutional means. There is no way in heck that Oregon and Congress will ever approve this, so these folks might as well give it up. I lived for 24 years in Utah and I moved to Oregon, my native state, so I could live in a more liberal environment. I’m not going back to right wing craziness in Oregon no matter what these greater Idaho folks say.
What am I missing here? The “new” boundary lines for Greater Idaho and Oregon don’t match the County boundary lines of those counties who are unhappy with remaining in Oregon and want to secede. As example, under the proposed Greater Idaho, I see Redmond would be in Idaho and Bend would be in Oregon; both of whom are in Deschutes County, a county not on the secession list. In addition, I see Prineville would be in Idaho, yet it’s in Crook County; also, a county not named in the secession list. One more thing, what about Gilliam County, not on the secession list, but is surrounded by Wheeler, Sherman, and Morrow counties – all who are? Would it be forced to submit to the majority?