UNOFFICIAL COPY 24 RS BR 1471
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A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION urging the Congress of the United States to 1
enact legislation granting statehood to the people of Washington, D.C. 2
WHEREAS, the people living on the land that would eventually be designated as 3
the District of Columbia were provided the right to vote for representation in Congress 4
when the Constitution of the United States was ratified in 1788; and 5
WHEREAS, the passage of the Organic Act of 1801 placed the District of 6
Columbia under the exclusive authority of the Congress of the United States and 7
abolished the right of residents to vote for members of Congress and for President and 8
Vice President of the United States; and 9
WHEREAS, residents of the District of Columbia were granted the right to vote for 10
President and Vice President of the United States through passage of the Twenty-third 11
Amendment to the Constitution of the United States in 1961; and 12
WHEREAS, as of 2020, Census Bureau of the United States data include estimates 13
that show the population of the District of Columbia, at approximately 689,545 residents, 14
is comparable to the populations of Wyoming (576,851), Vermont (643,077), Alaska 15
(733,391), and North Dakota (779,094); and 16
WHEREAS, residents of the District of Columbia share all the responsibilities of 17
citizenship in the United States, including paying more in federal taxes than residents of 18
22 states, service on federal juries, and defending the United States as members of the 19
Armed Forces of the United States in every war since the War for American 20
Independence, yet they are denied full representation in Congress; and 21
WHEREAS, the residents of the District of Columbia themselves have endorsed 22
statehood in a District-wide referendum on November 8, 2016, which showed 23
approximately 80 percent of the voters favored statehood; and 24
WHEREAS, no other democratic nation denies the right of self-government, 25
including representation in its national legislature, to residents of its capital; and 26
WHEREAS, the residents of the District of Columbia lack full democracy, equality, 27 UNOFFICIAL COPY 24 RS BR 1471
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and citizenship enjoyed by residents of the 50 states; and 1
WHEREAS, the Congress of the United States has repeatedly interfered with the 2
District of Columbia's limited self-government by enacting laws that affect the District of 3
Columbia's expenditure of its locally raised tax revenue, including barring the usage of 4
locally raised revenue, thus violating the fundamental principle that states and local 5
governments are best suited to enact legislation that represents the will of their citizens; 6
and 7
WHEREAS, although the District of Columbia has passed consecutive balanced 8
budgets since fiscal year 1997, it still faces the possibility of government shut-downs 9
annually because of federal deliberations over the federal budget; and 10
WHEREAS, District of Columbia Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and United 11
States Senator Tom Carper of Delaware introduced H.R. 51 and S. 51, the Washington, 12
D.C. Admission Act, during the 117th Congress, which provides that the residents of the 13
state of Washington, D.C., have all the rights of citizenship as taxpaying American 14
citizens, including the representation of two United States Senators and at least one 15
member of the United States House of Representatives; and 16
WHEREAS, the United Nations Human Rights Committee has called on the 17
Congress of the United States to address the District of Columbia's lack of political 18
equality, and the Organization of American States has declared the disenfranchisement of 19
residents of the District of Columbia a violation of its charter agreement, to which the 20
United States is a signatory; 21
NOW, THEREFORE, 22
Be it resolved by the House of Representatives of the General Assembly of the 23
Commonwealth of Kentucky, the Senate concurring therein: 24
Section 1. The Commonwealth of Kentucky supports the admission of 25
Washington, D.C., into the union as a state of the United States of America. 26
Section 2. The members of the United States Congress are urged to enact 27 UNOFFICIAL COPY 24 RS BR 1471
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federal legislation granting statehood to the people of Washington, D.C. 1