D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is planning to unveil a new constitution to govern the District, as the next step in her contested bid to secure statehood from Congress.
Bowser announced she will submit the draft to the D.C. Council Friday at 2 p.m. for an initial review, and will hold a simultaneous press conference to discuss the issue, reports Washington City Paper. Republicans are against the effort, largely because it would give the historically Democratic District two more votes in the Senate, a key political battleground.
“We have gotten very positive feedback from [Norton] on the process that has been set up, including modernizing the constitution to be a document that reflects our current structure,” Bowser said Friday. “I think that is going to be very helpful.”
D.C. leaders have attempted statehood bids in past decades but failed to gain any traction on Capitol Hill for final approval. But with the support of Holmes Norton, Bowser is hopeful her renewed push for statehood can gain traction unlike past efforts. (RELATED: DC Lawmakers Realize License Plate Slogan ‘Ineffective’ To Win Statehood)
The U.S. Constitution designates D.C. a federal city, and a 1973 charter lays out the balance of power between the mayor, D.C. council and House of Representatives. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton represents D.C. interests in the House of Representatives and can speak on the House floor about legislation but lacks voting power. The city does not have its own constitution and is ultimately governed by the House.
The New Columbia Statehood Initiative, a government body formed in 2014 to handle the city’s efforts to gain statehood status, voted April 29 on the first draft of the potential state constitution. Little details are known regarding the draft constitution.
Bowser calls the “disenfranchisement” of the District’s 672,000 citizens, many of which are black, the “biggest ongoing voting rights violation,” and notes polls show the vast majority of residents support statehood. Bowser will put the statehood issue to a vote with a ballot initiative in November. Advocates are cautiously optimistic about the current efforts, fearing lackluster outcomes may derail their statehood bid. (RELATED: Mayor Bowser Plans Big Fight With Congress Over DC Statehood)
“The only peril I see here is if we get the referendum on the ballot and we don’t pass it by a large margin,” Mike Brown, shadow senator for D.C. who regularly advocates for voting rights, told The Washington City Paper. “That would be devastating. If we go in there with 65 percent on this initiative, people on the Hill who hate us will say these people care more about smoking pot than they do about being a state.”
The marijuana ballot initiative passed with roughly 64 percent support, but the legalities of the referendum remain in limbo. Statehood advocates point to this issues, noting despite the public will, Congress quickly countered to stop further liberalization of the law. Congress used a budget measure to effectively ban the city from taxing or regulating marijuana. For all practical purposes, the measure prevents the District government from expanding legalization.
The D.C. Council will receive the draft of the constitution Friday but Council President Phil Mendelson, who helped write the draft, says they won’t vote on the issue until later in May, after the Council takes up Bowser’s budget for 2017.
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