State of Vermont Senate Chamber Montpelier, Vermont Joint Senate Resolution By Senator Vyhovsky,
J.R.S. 35. Joint resolution urging Congress to support statehood and all accompanying legal rights and privileges for the District of Columbia.
Whereas, the U.S. Constitution, as ratified following the Constitutional Convention of 1787,
granted the right to vote for congressional representation to qualified voters in all the states,
including those living in the sections of Maryland and Virginia that the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801 (the Act) later designated as the nation’s capital (the District), and Whereas, the Act disenfranchised citizens residing in the District because they were no longer the residents of any state, and Whereas, in 1961, the 23rd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave the District’s electorate the right to vote in presidential elections, and Whereas, in 1970, Congress enacted 2 U.S.C. § 25a authorizing the District’s voters to elect a nonvoting delegate to Congress but not providing for U.S. Senate representation, and Whereas, in 1973, Congress enacted the District of Columbia Home Rule Act (now known as
the District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act) establishing an elected mayoralty and city council whose independence is limited, and Whereas, on occasion, Congress has overridden locally adopted laws, such as the recently enacted criminal code revision, and the jurisdiction’s annual budget is subject to congressional amendment, and Whereas, the mayor of the District lacks the independent authority to call up the D.C.
National Guard regardless of the circumstances, and Whereas, the District and its citizens retain unequal and inferior sovereignty, electoral, and representational rights compared to those existing in the 50 states, now therefore be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives:
That the General Assembly urges Congress to support statehood and all accompanying legal rights and privileges for the District of Columbia, and be it further Resolved: That the Secretary of State be directed to send a copy of this resolution to
President Joseph R. Biden, the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, and the Vermont Congressional Delegation.
VT LEG #373347 v.1