[WardFive] Fwd: Council Hearings on Statehood Constitution bill 9/27 & 10/6/16

Theodora H. Brown

Begin forwarded message:

From: "A. Loikow" <aloikow@verizon.net>
Date: September 23, 2016 at 3:17:00 AM EDT
Subject: Council Hearings on Statehood Constitution bill 9/27 & 10/6/16

At 11 a.m. on Tuesday, September 27, 2016, the D.C. Council’s Committee of the Whole will hold the first of two hearings on Bill 21-826, the “Constitution for the State of New Columbia Approval Amendment Act of 2016.” A second hearing will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 6, 2016. 

Sign up to testify NOW! Today, Friday, September 23, 2016 is the last day to sign up for the September 27, 2016 hearing. 

To testify at either hearing, please email the Committee of the Whole ASAP at cow@dccouncil.us, or call Evan Cash, Committee Director, at 202-724-8196. 

The hearing will take place in Room 500 at the John A. Wilson building (1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW). 

It is important that D.C. citizens show up and let the Council know it wants a constitution of which we can be proud and that it is important that the people have a say in what is in it. 

The most important changes are to amend section 2 of the bill to amend the amendment provision in Article VII, §3 of the Constitution to allow the voters through the initiative process to propose specific amendments to the Constitution or to propose that a constitutional convention be held. All amendments, whether proposed by the House of Delegates, a voter initiative or a constitutional convention, must be approved by the voters. 

In addition, the Council does not have much time thoroughly consider the provisoins of the constitution, we would like the Council to amend the bill to provide that within 90 days of the passage, the Mayor and Council shall establish a procedure for electing representatives from all eight wards to develop reasonable or necessary improvements to the constitution and provide adequate time and resources for them to perform their duties. 

We also want to make sure that the admission act approved by Congress provides for a referendum to approve the constitution and boundaries referenced in the act, which may or may not be revised by Congress, subsequent to Congress' approval but before the President proclaims that New Columbia is admitted as a state. This second referendum is required by the bills now before Congress. A new Congress will convene in January 2017 and a new "New Columbia Admission Act" will have to be introduced in both houses at that time.

For a copy of Bill 21-0826, the “Constitution for the State of New Columbia Approval Amendment Act of 2016,” go to:  http://lims.dccouncil.us/Download/36236/B21-0826-Introduction.pdf.

For a copy of the notice of the hearing on Bill 21-0826 go to: See http://dccouncil.us/events/cow-public-hearing5. Click on the icon for hearing notice. 

A separate resolution has been introduced with the boundaries for the State of New Columbia. Our only opportunity to comment on them is at these two hearings. This map and the attached document below show the boundaries as amended by the Statehood Commission on September 14, 2016.