D.C. Drafts 51st State Constitution | The Compost Bin | Forums

Wonder if we will get a star sticker to put on our flags.

Washington, D.C., got one symbolic step closer to statehood Friday when D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser released a draft constitution for New Columbia, the proposed 51st U.S. state. Bowser has been pushing for full statehood, reports the Washington Post, because she believes the lack of a vote in Congress makes it more difficult to solve the city’s major challenges, like fixing Metro public transit.

Though D.C. is more populous than Vermont or Wyoming and contributes more in federal taxes than 22 states, the district not only lacks a vote but Congress also has final say over local D.C. laws and the spending of local tax revenue. As Aaron Wiener reported for Next City last year, that means federally elected officials often meddle in local issues, by legislating away voters’ embrace of legal marijuana possession, for example, or trying to strip gun control laws. Wiener made the case that this often gives representatives from non-urban areas, unfamiliar with D.C.’s specifically urban needs, undue power over a growing city.

Bowser is calling for a constitutional convention in June, and statehood on the ballot in November, petitioning the next U.S. president and Congress to declare D.C. the 51st state, even though current congressional Republicans have indicated their disinterest in the issue. Under the draft constitution announced last week, Bowser would become governor of the new state, and the city’s 13 council members would become representatives in a new state House of Delegates. The district’s 670,000 residents would elect one voting member to the U.S. House of Representatives and two to the Senate. Bowser made her announcement at the site where Abraham Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation, calling the location “a fitting reminder that we are not fully free … in the District of Columbia.”

more https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/welcome-new-columbia-dc-mayor-releases-draft-constitution-dc-51st-state