Committee makes progress on 4th Utah seat in Congress

WASHINGTON — Utah's potential fourth seat in Congress moved closer to reality this morning as the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee passed a bill creating it and granting a vote for the District of Columbia.

The bill got this far last year before stalling in the House Judiciary Committee with no action before Congress adjourned for the year. The same committee will take the bill up again Wednesday — where it is also expected to pass — and bill advocates expect a House floor vote by the end of the month.

Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, is a co-sponsor of the latest version of the bill that was reintroduced late Friday. The legislation does not mention Utah specifically, but the new at-large seat would go to the state because it is next in line to get a new seat after the 2010 Census. The bill increases to 437 the number of members in the House of Representatives

Utah missed a fourth seat after the 2000 Census. The bill passed Tuesday speeds up the process as part of a bipartisan compromise to avoid either the Democrats or Republicans gaining an advantage. Utah's seat would likely go to a Republican while the District's seat would likely go to a Democrat.

Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, said he plans to offer an amendment during the Judiciary Committee meeting Wednesday that would allow the state to change the at-large element of the new seat if it wanted.

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