Wisconsin 2023-2024 Regular Session

Wisconsin Assembly Bill AJR75 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

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3	3	2023 - 2024 LEGISLATURE
4	4	2023 ASSEMBLY JOINT RESOLUTIO N 75
5	5	September 28, 2023 - Introduced by Representatives MOORE OMOKUNDE, C.
6	6	ANDERSON, J. ANDERSON, BALDEH, BARE, CLANCY, CONLEY, CONSIDINE, JOERS,
7	7	MADISON, MYERS, OHNSTAD, SHELTON, SUBECK and STUBBS, cosponsored by
8	8	Senators ROYS, CARPENTER, L. JOHNSON, LARSON, SPREITZER and TAYLOR.
9	9	Referred to Committee on Campaigns and Elections.
10	10	*AUTHORS SUBJECT TO CHANGE*
11	11	Relating to: urging members of the United States Congress to enact federal
12	12	legislation granting statehood to the people of Washington, D.C.
13	13	Whereas, the people living on the land that would eventually be designated as
14	14	the District of Columbia were provided the right to vote for representation in
15	15	Congress when the United States Constitution was ratified in 1788; and
16	16	Whereas, the passage of the Organic Act of 1801 placed the District of Columbia
17	17	under the exclusive authority of the United States Congress and abolished residents'
18	18	right to vote for members of Congress and the president and vice president of the
19	19	United States; and
20	20	Whereas, residents of the District of Columbia were granted the right to vote
21	21	for the president and vice president through passage of the T wenty-third
22	22	Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1961; and
23	23	Whereas, as of 2020, U.S. Census Bureau data estimates that the District of
24	24	Columbia's population of approximately 712,000 residents is comparable to the
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42	42	populations of Wyoming (582,000), Vermont (623,000), Alaska (731,000), and North
43	43	Dakota (765,000); and
44	44	Whereas, residents of the District of Columbia share all the responsibilities of
45	45	United States citizenship, including paying more federal taxes than residents of 22
46	46	states, service on federal juries, and defending the United States as members of the
47	47	United States armed forces in every war since the War for Independence, yet they
48	48	are denied full representation in Congress; and
49	49	Whereas, the residents of the District of Columbia themselves have endorsed
50	50	statehood for the District of Columbia and passed a District-wide referendum on
51	51	November 8, 2016, which favored statehood by 86 percent; and
52	52	Whereas, no other democratic nation denies the right of self-government,
53	53	including participation in its national legislature, to the residents of its capital; and
54	54	Whereas, the residents of the District of Columbia lack full democracy, equality,
55	55	and citizenship enjoyed by the residents of the 50 states; and
56	56	Whereas, the United States Congress repeatedly has interfered with the
57	57	District of Columbia's limited self-government by enacting laws that affect the
58	58	District of Columbia's expenditure of its locally raised tax revenue, including barring
59	59	the usage of locally raised revenue, thus violating the fundamental principle that
60	60	states and local governments are best suited to enact legislation that represents the
61	61	will of their citizens; and
62	62	Whereas, although the District of Columbia has passed consecutive balanced
63	63	budgets since the 1997 fiscal year, it still faces the possibility of being shut down
64	64	yearly because of congressional deliberations over the federal budget; and
65	65	Whereas, District of Columbia Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and Delaware
66	66	U.S. Senator Tom Carper introduced in the 117th Congress H.R. 51 and S. 51, the
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95	95	Washington, D.C. Admission Act, which provides that the State of Washington, D.C.,
96	96	would have all the rights of citizenship as taxpaying American citizens, including
97	97	two senators and at least one House member; and
98	98	Whereas, the United Nations Human Rights Committee has called on the
99	99	United States Congress to address the District of Columbia's lack of political
100	100	equality, and the Organization of American States has declared the
101	101	disenfranchisement of District of Columbia residents a violation of its charter
102	102	agreement, to which the United States is a signatory; now, therefore, be it
103	103	Resolved by the assembly, the senate concurring, That the members of the
104	104	United States Congress are urged to enact federal legislation granting statehood to
105	105	the people of Washington, D.C.; and, be it further
106	106	Resolved, That the State of Wisconsin supports admitting Washington, D.C.,
107	107	into the Union as a state of the United States of America.
108	108	(END)
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