LRB-3600/1
RAC:klm
2023 - 2024 LEGISLATURE
September 28, 2023 - Introduced by Representatives Moore Omokunde, C.
Anderson
, J. Anderson, Baldeh, Bare, Clancy, Conley, Considine, Joers,
Madison, Myers, Ohnstad, Shelton, Subeck and Stubbs, cosponsored by
Senators Roys, Carpenter, L. Johnson, Larson, Spreitzer and Taylor.
Referred to Committee on Campaigns and Elections.
AJR75,1,2 1Relating to: urging members of the United States Congress to enact federal
2legislation granting statehood to the people of Washington, D.C.
AJR75,1,53 Whereas, the people living on the land that would eventually be designated as
4the District of Columbia were provided the right to vote for representation in
5Congress when the United States Constitution was ratified in 1788; and
AJR75,1,96 Whereas, the passage of the Organic Act of 1801 placed the District of Columbia
7under the exclusive authority of the United States Congress and abolished residents'
8right to vote for members of Congress and the president and vice president of the
9United States; and
AJR75,1,1210 Whereas, residents of the District of Columbia were granted the right to vote
11for the president and vice president through passage of the Twenty-third
12Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1961; and
AJR75,2,213 Whereas, as of 2020, U.S. Census Bureau data estimates that the District of
14Columbia's population of approximately 712,000 residents is comparable to the

1populations of Wyoming (582,000), Vermont (623,000), Alaska (731,000), and North
2Dakota (765,000); and
AJR75,2,73 Whereas, residents of the District of Columbia share all the responsibilities of
4United States citizenship, including paying more federal taxes than residents of 22
5states, service on federal juries, and defending the United States as members of the
6United States armed forces in every war since the War for Independence, yet they
7are denied full representation in Congress; and
AJR75,2,108 Whereas, the residents of the District of Columbia themselves have endorsed
9statehood for the District of Columbia and passed a District-wide referendum on
10November 8, 2016, which favored statehood by 86 percent; and
AJR75,2,1211 Whereas, no other democratic nation denies the right of self-government,
12including participation in its national legislature, to the residents of its capital; and
AJR75,2,1413 Whereas, the residents of the District of Columbia lack full democracy, equality,
14and citizenship enjoyed by the residents of the 50 states; and
AJR75,2,2015 Whereas, the United States Congress repeatedly has interfered with the
16District of Columbia's limited self-government by enacting laws that affect the
17District of Columbia's expenditure of its locally raised tax revenue, including barring
18the usage of locally raised revenue, thus violating the fundamental principle that
19states and local governments are best suited to enact legislation that represents the
20will of their citizens; and
AJR75,2,2321 Whereas, although the District of Columbia has passed consecutive balanced
22budgets since the 1997 fiscal year, it still faces the possibility of being shut down
23yearly because of congressional deliberations over the federal budget; and
AJR75,3,324 Whereas, District of Columbia Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and Delaware
25U.S. Senator Tom Carper introduced in the 117th Congress H.R. 51 and S. 51, the

1Washington, D.C. Admission Act, which provides that the State of Washington, D.C.,
2would have all the rights of citizenship as taxpaying American citizens, including
3two senators and at least one House member; and
AJR75,3,84 Whereas, the United Nations Human Rights Committee has called on the
5United States Congress to address the District of Columbia's lack of political
6equality, and the Organization of American States has declared the
7disenfranchisement of District of Columbia residents a violation of its charter
8agreement, to which the United States is a signatory; now, therefore, be it
AJR75,3,11 9Resolved by the assembly, the senate concurring, That the members of the
10United States Congress are urged to enact federal legislation granting statehood to
11the people of Washington, D.C.; and, be it further
AJR75,3,13 12Resolved, That the State of Wisconsin supports admitting Washington, D.C.,
13into the Union as a state of the United States of America.
AJR75,3,1414 (End)
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