The California legislature recently introduced SJR-8, a joint resolution championing federal legislation that would grant statehood and ensure full representation and voting rights to the people of Washington, D.C.
The resolution would register California’s support for federal legislation H.R. 51 and S. 51, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act, which provides that the people of the State of Washington, D.C. would have all the rights of citizenship as tax-paying American citizens, including two senators and at least one representative.
Disenfranchising the people of Washington, D.C. through the denial of statehood is a civil rights and racial justice failure. The District of Columbia has just one non-voting delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives and no members in the Senate. Lack of representation for the 700,000 people who call the nation’s capital home – the majority of whom are Black or brown – gives the U.S. the unfortunate distinction of being the only democracy in the world that denies the residents of its capital city the full rights of citizenship.
The people of Washington D.C. deserve the same rights as any American living in our 50 states. They deserve full representation in Congress and to be free of Congressional interference in their local governance. Read more in our letter of support. Don’t let the will and voice of 700,000 people be overlooked and ignored. Urge your state representatives to register California’s support for D.C. statehood.
Sincerely,
Stephanie Doute, CAE
Executive Director, LWVC
