Greater Idaho effort gets thumbs up from committee
The uphill fight to merge parts of eastern Oregon with Idaho is headed to the Idaho House floor. A committee has approved a resolution that would authorize talks between lawmakers in Boise and Salem about a proposal to move the state border.
The effort called “Greater Idaho” proposes to move the border between Oregon and Idaho, effectively handing Eastern Oregon over to Idaho.
Mark Simmons, a former Republican Speaker of the House in Oregon, said Idahoans should consider him, and others from Eastern Oregon, as “refugees.”
“We would like to be good neighbors to the folks on the west side while they continue with their social engineering experiments,” Simmons said. “Go ahead, just leave us out.”
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Rep. Barbara Ehardt (R–Idaho Falls) has been one of the main drivers of the movement on the Idaho side. She said combining the two regions would help promote conservative values, like opposing the legalization of marijuana.
“A lot of Idahoans are going there and getting drugs,” Ehardt said. “That will be pushed hundreds of miles away.”
But the idea does have serious logistical challenges. Both state legislatures would need to negotiate how roads, schools, prisons, and other institutions would operate under such a move. Any deal to move the state border also would require congressional approval.
Rep. Judy Boyle (R–Midvale), another Greater Idaho backer, said she wouldn’t support any kind of lump sum payment to Oregon in order to move the border.
“That is definitely not my intent,” Boyle said. “I don’t think any Idahoan wants to pay Oregon for anything.”
A total of 11 Eastern Oregon counties have voted to study the issue or to approve of the concept. Two counties in Southwest Oregon rejected similar ballot measures in May 2022.
