A Republican state representative of Texas has filed a bill that, if enacted, would allow Texans to vote on whether to authorize a study into the process of seceding from the United States. 

“The voters shall be permitted to vote in a referendum on the question of whether this state should reassert its status as an independent nation,” the bill reads.

If voters approved the ballot measure, a committee would be established to “investigate the feasibility of independence from the Union and propose options and potential plans for independence to the Texas Legislature.”

Representative Bryan Slaton introduced his TEXIT Referendum Act on Monday as a remedy to “decades of continuous abuse” against the state by the federal government. 

“On this 187th anniversary of the fall of the Alamo I’m proud to file this bill to let the people of Texas vote on the future of our State,” Mr. Slaton wrote. “Texas was born out of a desire for liberty and self-governance, and that desire continues to burn in the hearts of all Texans.”

A similar bill was filed in the last legislative session, but it never made it out of committee. 

A leading proponent of the independence movement is Daniel Miller, who heads the pro-secession Texas Nationalist Movement, which boasts nearly 450,000 members.

“While this is great news for us, it means that the work is just beginning,” Mr. Miller said in a video posted to Twitter. “We could, as Texans, have a vote on TEXIT in November of this year. So friends, let’s go win.”

Texans aren’t the only Americans who have pushed for secession in recent years. One Alaska governor, Wally Hickel, was a member of the Alaska Independence Party during his tenure. It still advocates for the state’s independence.

In May 2010, a group called the Third Palmetto Republic sought to make South Carolina an independent nation. The Free State Project in New Hampshire also has garnered significant media attention in recent years for its push for secession.

None of those efforts have gained much traction, though.

It isn’t just conservative states that have seen independence movements. Secessionist movements have become more prominent in liberal states following the election of Republican presidents.

In 2017, one poll found that one out of every three Californians supported making their state an independent nation. During the early 2000s, in a response to President Bush’s policies, some residents of Vermont tried to re-establish the Vermont Republic, which existed between 1777 and 1791. 

Messrs. Slaton and Miller believe Texas should once again be a republic, as it was during the period between its independence from Mexico and its annexation by the United States, 1836 to 1845. The Republic of Texas was persuaded to join the Union after Congress authorized $10 million in debt relief and a guarantee that the slave trade and slavery itself would remain legal in the new state. 

Opponents of TEXIT say independence from the United States today is no different than southern states seceding on the eve of the Civil War — an act of treason. 

A fellow Republican state representative, Jeff Leach, said Mr. Slaton is “violating his very oath of office” by introducing this bill. “This ridiculous bill is the very definition of hypocritical & seditious treason & it is already dead,” Mr. Leach wrote. 

In addition to political challenges, TEXIT faces legal ones as well. A Supreme Court decision from 1869 — Texas v. White — held that no state could unilaterally leave the Union. “The union between Texas and the other States was as complete, as perpetual, and as indissoluble as the union between the original States,” Chief Justice Chase wrote for the majority.