From Deseret News archives:
A chance of a 4th D.C. seat — again
Congress failed to act on a bill adding a seat for Utah and allowing a House vote for the District of Columbia before the last session ended late last year. Utah's Legislature rushed to approve a new four-district map to help move the bill along, but the House never scheduled a vote for the bill.
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., and Government Reform Committee Ranking Member Tom Davis, R-Va., followed up on a pledge that it would be their first bill introduced in the new Congress by resubmitting the bill Tuesday. All bills not passed by the end of the year need to be reintroduced in a new session of Congress.
"We got further than anyone ever had before, last session, and this time, we're going to push it over the top," Davis said in a statement. "It's a matter of fairness. It always has enjoyed bipartisan support."
The bill, known as the "Fair and Equal House Voting Rights Act," gives one vote to the mainly Democratic District of Columbia in exchange for adding a vote for Utah — which would most likely go to a Republican. The bill also would permanently increase the size of the House from 435 to 437 members, according to Norton's office.
The bill would need to be approved at the House committee level before going to a full House vote and then repeat the process in the Senate before going to the White House.
This is slightly different from the bill's original form as introduced last year. The previous version would have created an at-large seat for Utah until the next Census, but former House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., opposed that idea. He wanted the state to redraw the districts.
Norton said the new Democratic majority supports the bill and is optimistic it will pass.
"Democrats have long been outspoken in their commitment to D.C. voting rights, and I appreciate their unwavering support" Norton said. "The political history of our country demonstrates that additional representation has been granted only on the basis of exact political equivalence, assuring neither benefit nor disadvantage to either party."
Utah missed getting a new seat after the 2000 census and the Supreme Court did not rule in its favor to get the seat.
E-mail: suzanne@desnews.com
