Greater Idaho

The Greater Idaho movement is a conservative effort in the US for counties east of the Oregon Cascades and eventually portions of Northern California to secede from the state of Oregon and join Idaho. If approved locally by voters via ballot measures, it would need approval from both state legislatures and Congress.

Background and rationale

Eastern Oregon is relatively rural and conservative, compared to more heavily populated moderate to liberal western urban areas which have a majority in the Oregon Legislative Assembly. Idaho is relatively conservative overall compared to Oregon, motivating some conservatives in eastern Oregon to agitate for relocating the border. Oregon governor Tina Kotek acknowledged the movement in 2023 saying, "I think there are a lot of Oregonians who are frustrated and don’t feel heard. That, I think, is what the movement is about."

A number of state laws differ dramatically between Oregon and Idaho. The drug policy of Oregon is among the most permissive in the nation, including the legalization of recreational marijuana and decriminalization of personal possession of all illicit drugs. The Idaho state legislature opposes the rise of marijuana dispensaries in eastern Oregon serving customers from the Boise metro area; by moving the border further west it could increase the travel time to the nearest dispensaries (currently about an hour). In addition to changes in tax policy and minimum wages, abortion access is also starkly different between the two states, with Idaho having a total ban on abortion while Oregon imposes no legal restrictions.

Timeline

In 2020, the group called "Move Oregon's Border for a Greater Idaho" proposed breaking off most of Oregon's area and some of Northern California and join it with Idaho. In 2021, five counties in eastern Oregon voted to "require county officials to take steps to promote" adding the counties to Idaho.

As of June 2023, twelve counties in Oregon had approved ballot measures in favor of Greater Idaho: Baker, Grant, Harney, Jefferson, Klamath, Lake, Malheur, Morrow, Sherman, Union, Wallowa, and Wheeler.

In May 2022, voters in Douglas and Josephine counties rejected proposals to join, causing the proponents to scale back the scope of the proposal and issue a "less ambitious" map that excludes Southern Oregon west of Klamath County. The reduced scope includes only Oregon’s eastern territory save for small portions of Deschutes and Wasco counties. The latest map only covers about one third of the originally targeted areas. The majority of the remaining inhabitants live in Umatilla County, which is home to Hermiston and Pendleton, the two largest cities in the region. As of May 2023, Umatilla County has not shown enough interest to place the issue on the ballot.

In February 2023, the House State Affairs committee of the Idaho House of Representatives approved a resolution to authorize the legislature to discuss moving the state border with Oregon lawmakers. This was subsequently passed by the House. A similar bill was introduced in the Oregon State Senate, but Senate President Rob Wagner stated that it was unlikely the bill would move forward in the 2023 session. In May 2023, Wallowa County approved a ballot measure in favor of Greater Idaho by just seven votes.

As of December 2023, Umatilla County and Gilliam County have yet to entertain the concept on the ballot. Crook County has a vote scheduled for May 2024.

See also

* List of U.S. state partition proposals
*Jefferson (proposed Pacific state)

References

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Politics of Oregon
Politics of Idaho
Separatism in the United States
Proposed states and territories of the United States