A long and passionate debate took place in the Indiana House over the past two days as State Representatives debated their top priority: Indiana’s next budget. During the two-day showdown on the House floor,

House Bill 1008 from Republican House Speaker Todd Huston would create a commission to study how 33 Illinois counties could join Indiana.

House Bill 1008, authored by Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, has been panned by Illinois leaders as a stunt. On the House floor before the vote, Huston once again emphasized Indiana’s tax rates and rattled off economic statistics and framed his measure as a way to highlight the state’s progress.

The Indiana House passed the biennial budget, which received praise from Republicans and criticism from Democrats, on Thursday. The legislature is tasked with crafting a budget to cover state funding over the next two years.

Dollywood Foundation, Democrats and community groups call for restoration; Gov. Braun puts his wife on the job to find private money to pay for it

The Indiana House passed its budget on Thursday and it now moves to the Senate for further consideration. The budget is supposed to cover funding for the next two years.

A bill aimed at redrawing the Indiana-Illinois border passed out of the Indiana House Thursday with the Speaker of the House suggesting that other Midwestern states join Indiana.

In a video statement Thursday, Rokita called this "critical legislation" that is "great news for every law-abiding and tax-paying Hoosier."

"If Illinois residents and counties are looking for something different, we're simply raising our hands and saying, you'd be welcome in Indiana," Speaker Todd Huston said.