Bill Text: NY J00484 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

New York Senate Resolution 484

Introduced

Bill Title: Supporting admitting Washington, D.C. into the Union as a state of the United States of America

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2023-03-01 - REFERRED TO FINANCE [J00484 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-J00484-Introduced.html


Senate Resolution No. 484

BY: Senator SANDERS

        SUPPORTING  admitting  Washington,  D.C.  into the
        Union as a state of the United States of America

  WHEREAS, The people living on the  land  that  would  eventually  be
designated  as  the District of Columbia were provided the right to vote
for representation in Congress when the United States  Constitution  was
ratified in 1788; and

  WHEREAS,  The passage of the Organic Act of 1801 placed the District
of Columbia under the exclusive authority of the United States  Congress
and  abolished  residents' right to vote for members of Congress and the
President and Vice President of the United States; and

  WHEREAS, Residents of the District  of  Columbia  were  granted  the
right  to  vote  for the President and Vice President through passage of
the 23rd Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1961; and

  WHEREAS, As of 2021, the U.S. Census Bureau data estimates that  the
District  of Columbia's population at approximately 689,545 residents is
comparable to the populations of Wyoming (576,851),  Vermont  (643,077),
Alaska (733,391), and North Dakota (779,094); and

  WHEREAS,  Residents  of  the  District  of  Columbia  share  all the
responsibilities of United States  citizenship,  including  paying  more
federal  taxes  than  residents of 22 states, service on federal juries,
and defending the United States as members of the  United  States  armed
forces  in every war since the War for Independence, yet they are denied
full representation in Congress; and

  WHEREAS, The residents of the District of Columbia  themselves  have
endorsed   statehood   for   the  District  of  Columbia  and  passed  a
District-wide referendum on November 8, 2016, which favored statehood by
86%; and

  WHEREAS,  No  other  democratic   nation   denies   the   right   of
self-government, including participation in its national legislature, to
the residents of its capital; and

  WHEREAS,  The  residents  of  the  District  of  Columbia  lack full
democracy, equality, and citizenship enjoyed by the residents of the  50
states; and

  WHEREAS,  The  United States Congress repeatedly has interfered with
the District of Columbia's limited self-government by enacting laws that
affect the District of Columbia's expenditure of its locally raised  tax
revenue,  including  barring  the  usage of locally raised revenue, thus
violating the fundamental principle that states  and  local  governments
are  best  suited to enact legislation that represents the will of their
citizens; and

  WHEREAS, Although the District of Columbia  has  passed  consecutive
balanced  budgets  since FY1997, it still faces the possibility of being

shut down yearly because of Congressional deliberations over the federal
budget; and

  WHEREAS,  District  of  Columbia  Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and
Delaware U.S. Senator Tom Carper introduced in the 118th  Congress  H.R.
51  and  S.   51, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act, that provides that
the State of Washington, D.C. would have all the rights  of  citizenship
as  taxpaying American citizens, including two Senators and at least one
House member; and

  WHEREAS, The United Nations Human Rights Committee has called on the
United States Congress to address the District  of  Columbia's  lack  of
political equality, and the Organization of American States has declared
the disenfranchisement of the District of Columbia residents a violation
of  its  charter  agreement,  to which the United States is a signatory;
now, therefore, be it

  RESOLVED, That the State of New York supports admitting  Washington,
D.C.   into the Union as a state of the United States of America; and be
it further

  RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be sent to the President of
the United States of America, the Vice President of the United States of
America, the Speaker of the United States Congress,  the  President  Pro
Tempore  of  the  United  States Senate, and the members of the New York
Congressional Delegation.