71st OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2001 Regular Session
 
NOTE:  Matter within  { +  braces and plus signs + } in an
amended section is new. Matter within  { -  braces and minus
signs - } is existing law to be omitted. New sections are within
 { +  braces and plus signs + } .
 
 LC 3797
 
                     House Joint Memorial 14
 
Sponsored by Representative BECK
 
 
                             SUMMARY
 
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the
measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject to
consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor's
brief statement of the essential features of the measure as
introduced.
 
  Urges Congress to pass legislation granting full voting rights
and representation for residents of District of Columbia.
 
                         JOINT MEMORIAL
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States
  of America, in Congress assembled:
  We, your memorialists, the Seventy-first Legislative Assembly
of the State of Oregon, in legislative session assembled,
respectfully represent as follows:
  Whereas the capital of the United States, the District of
Columbia, has a population of over 500,000 persons; and
  Whereas these 500,000 persons are citizens of the United States
of America, endowed with all the attendant rights and duties of
American citizenship; and
  Whereas residents of the District of Columbia bear all the
burdens of citizenship, including taxation and military service,
but are denied the benefits of the United States Constitution,
including due process, equal protection of the laws and a
republican form of government; and
  Whereas the residents of the District of Columbia, past and
present, have served their country with distinction, courage and
valor, sustaining a higher rate of casualties in Vietnam than
citizens of 47 states, and serving in Operation Desert Storm in
higher per capita numbers than citizens of 46 states; and
  Whereas District of Columbia residents pay federal income taxes
at a per capita rate higher than nearly all other states, yet
have no representative say over how those taxes will be spent;
and
  Whereas Congress exercises direct control over the residents of
the District of Columbia, yet those citizens have no recourse for
redress of grievances; and
  Whereas legal scholars have determined that neither a
constitutional amendment nor a grant of statehood is necessary
for full representative voting rights in Congress to be granted;
and
  Whereas the United States Supreme Court declared as early as
1901, that the mere cession to the federal government of the land
constituting the District of Columbia did not strip those persons
of their constitutional rights; and
 
 
  Whereas this great country was founded upon the principle that
a government without representation of the governed cannot stand;
now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the Legislative Assembly of the State of
  Oregon:
  (1) The Congress of the United States is respectfully urged to
grant the community of American citizens who are residents of the
District constituting the seat of government of the United
States, full voting representation in Congress.
  (2) A copy of this memorial shall be sent to each member of the
Oregon Congressional Delegation.
                         ----------