SCR 18

As Introduced
136th General Assembly
    Regular Session  S. C. R. No. 18
       2025-2026
  Senator Ingram
  Cosponsor: Senator Smith
  A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
  To urge the Congress of the United States to grant  1
  statehood to Washington, D.C.  2
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF OHIO (THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING):
    WHEREAS, The people living on the land that would  3
eventually be designated as the District of Columbia were  4
provided the right to vote for representation in Congress when  5
the United States Constitution was ratified in 1788; and  6
    WHEREAS, The passage of the Organic Act of 1801 placed the  7
District of Columbia under the exclusive authority of the  8
Congress of the United States and abolished the residents' right  9
to vote for members of Congress and the President and Vice  10
President of the United States; and  11
    WHEREAS, Residents of the District of Columbia were granted  12
the right to vote for the President and Vice President through  13
passage of the Twenty–Third Amendment to the United States  14
Constitution in 1961; and  15
    WHEREAS, As of 2025, the United States Census Bureau  16
estimates that the District of Columbia's population at  17
approximately 693,645 residents is comparable to the populations  18
of Wyoming (588,753), Vermont (644,663), Alaska (737,270), and  19
S. C. R. No. 18  Page 2
As Introduced
North Dakota (779,358); and  20
       WHEREAS, Residents of the District of Columbia share all  21
the responsibilities of United States citizenship, including  22
paying more federal taxes than residents of 22 states, service  23
on federal juries, and defending the United States as members of  24
the United States armed forces in every war since the War for  25
Independence, yet they are denied full representation in  26
Congress; and  27
       WHEREAS, The residents of the District of Columbia  28
themselves have endorsed statehood for the District of Columbia  29
and, on November 8, 2016, passed a district–wide referendum  30
favoring statehood by 86%; and  31
       WHEREAS, No other democratic nation denies the right of  32
self–government, including participation in its national  33
legislature, to the residents of its capital; and  34
       WHEREAS, The residents of the District of Columbia, without  35
voting representation in Congress, live under a system that is  36
not fully democratic, and therefore are not equal in political  37
power to residents of the 50 states; and  38
       WHEREAS, The Congress of the United States has repeatedly  39
interfered with the District of Columbia's limited self–  40
government by enacting laws that affect the District of  41
Columbia's expenditure of its locally raised tax revenue,  42
including barring the usage of locally raised revenue, thus  43
violating the fundamental principle that states and local  44
governments are best suited to enact legislation that represents  45
the will of their citizens; and  46
       WHEREAS, Although the District of Columbia has passed  47
consecutive balanced budgets since FY 1997, it still faces the  48
possibility of being shut down yearly because of Congressional  49
deliberations over the federal budget; and  50
S. C. R. No. 18  Page 3
As Introduced
       WHEREAS, District of Columbia Delegate Eleanor Holmes  51
Norton and Maryland United States Senator Chris Van Hollen  52
introduced in the 119th Congress H.R. 51 and S. 51, the  53
Washington, D.C. Admission Act, that provides that the State of  54
Washington, D.C. would have all the rights of citizenship as  55
taxpaying American citizens, including two Senators and at least  56
one House member; and  57
       WHEREAS, The United Nations Human Rights Committee has  58
called on the Congress of the United States to address the  59
District of Columbia's lack of political equality, and the  60
Organization of American States has declared the  61
disenfranchisement of District of Columbia residents a violation  62
of its charter agreement, to which the United States is a  63
signatory; now therefore be it  64
       RESOLVED, That we, the members of the 136th General  65
Assembly of the State of Ohio, urge the Congress of the United  66
States to enact federal legislation granting statehood to the  67
people of Washington, D.C.; and be it further  68
       RESOLVED, That we support the admission of Washington, D.C.  69
into the Union as a state of the United States of America; and  70
be it further  71
       RESOLVED, That the Clerk of Senate transmit duly  72
authenticated copies of this resolution to the President Pro  73
Tempore of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the  74
United States House of Representatives, to each member of the  75
Ohio Congressional delegation, and to the news media of Ohio.  76