State Senator Doris Turner (D-Springfield) is pushing for a commission to rework the Illinois flag based on community suggestions, according to National Public Radio Illinois.

Senate Bill 1818, Turner’s proposal, would create the Illinois Flag Commission. The public would be able to make suggestions for a new flag design through a new website and then weigh in on the final design. 

The design for the current flag was adopted in 1915 — with the word “Illinois” added in 1970 — but more than a century later, Turner told NPR that a new flag is necessary to reflect Illinois’s transformation into a fiscally responsible state.

Recently, Utah went through a similar process to make over the state flag. The Utah State Flag Task Force received about 7,000 flag designs and more than 44,000 public comments in 2021. Both chambers of Utah’s state legislature approved the new flag design Thursday.

The Illinois bill is now assigned to the State Government Committee and will be heard Wednesday.

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