F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
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HM 767 2023
1 House Memorial
2 A memorial to the Congress of the United States,
3 urging Congress to enact federal legislation granting
4 statehood to the people of the District of Columbia.
5
6 WHEREAS, the people living on the land that would
7 eventually be designated as the District of Columbia were
8 provided the right to vote for representation in the United
9 States Congress when the United States Constitution was ratified
10 in 1788, and
11 WHEREAS, the passage of the Organic Act of 1801 placed the
12 District of Columbia under the exclusive jurisdiction of the
13 United States Congress, and
14 WHEREAS, in 1961, residents of the District of Columbia
15 were granted the right to vote in national elections for
16 President and Vice President of the United States through
17 passage of the Twenty–third Amendment to the United States
18 Constitution, and
19 WHEREAS, as of 2022, the United States Census Bureau data
20 estimates that the District of Columbia's population of
21 approximately 671,803 residents is comparable to the populations
22 of Wyoming (576,851), Vermont (643,077), Alaska (733,391), and
23 North Dakota (779,094), and
24 WHEREAS, residents of the District of Columbia share all
25 the responsibilities of United States citizenship, including
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26 paying federal taxes, serving on federal juries, and defending
27 the United States as members of the United States Armed Forces
28 in every war since the American Revolutionary War, and
29 WHEREAS, the residents of the District of Columbia have
30 endorsed statehood for the District of Columbia and passed a
31 districtwide referendum on November 8, 2016, in which 86 percent
32 of voters favored statehood, and
33 WHEREAS, the United Nations Human Rights Committee has
34 called on the United States Congress to address the District of
35 Columbia's lack of political equality, and
36 WHEREAS, the Organization of American States has declared
37 the disenfranchisement of the District of Columbia residents a
38 violation of its charter agreement, to which the United States
39 is a signatory, and
40 WHEREAS, District of Columbia United States Representative
41 Eleanor Holmes Norton and Delaware United States Senator Tom
42 Carper introduced in the 117th Congress H.R. 51 and S. 51, the
43 Washington, D.C. Admission Act, which would have granted to the
44 residents of the State of Washington, D.C., all the rights of
45 citizenship as taxpaying American citizens, including two United
46 States Senators and at least one member of the United States
47 House of Representatives, NOW, THEREFORE,
48
49 Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
50
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51 That the Congress of the United States is urged to enact
52 federal legislation granting statehood to the people of the
53 District of Columbia.
54 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State dispatch
55 copies of this memorial to the President of the United States,
56 the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the
57 United States House of Representatives, and each member of the
58 Florida delegation to the United States Congress.
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