Urges Congress enact legislation granting statehood to Washington, D.C.

AJR138

ASSEMBLY JOINT RESOLUTION

No. 138

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

INTRODUCED FEBRUARY 19, 2026

Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman� CAROL A. MURPHY

District 7 (Burlington)

SYNOPSIS

���� Urges Congress enact legislation granting statehood
to Washington, D.C.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� As introduced.

��

A Joint
Resolution

urging the United States
Congress to enact legislation granting statehood to Washington, D.C.

Whereas,

The people living on the land that would eventually be designated as the
District of Columbia were provided the right to vote for representation in
Congress when the United States Constitution was ratified in 1788; and

Whereas,

The passage of the Organic Act of 1801 placed the District of Columbia under
the exclusive authority of the United States Congress and abolished residents�
right to vote for members of Congress and the President and Vice President of
the United States; and

Whereas,

Residents of the District of Columbia were granted the right to vote for the
President and Vice President through passage of the Twenty-Third Amendment to
the United States Constitution in 1961; and

Whereas,

As of 2023, the U.S. Census Bureau data estimates the District of Columbia�s
population at approximately 678,972 residents, comparable to the populations of
Wyoming (584,057), Vermont (647,464), Alaska (733,406), and North Dakota (783,926);
and

Whereas,

Residents of the District of Columbia share all the responsibilities of United
States citizenship, including paying more federal taxes than residents of 22
states, serving on federal juries, and defending the United States as members
of the United States Armed Forces in every war since the War for Independence,
yet they are denied full representation in Congress; and

Whereas,

The residents of the District of Columbia themselves have endorsed statehood
for the District and passed a referendum on November 8, 2016, which favored
statehood by 86 percent; and

Whereas,

No other democratic nation denies the right of self-government, including
participation in its national legislature, to the residents of its capital; and

Whereas,

The residents of the District of Columbia lack full democracy, equality, and
citizenship enjoyed by the residents of the 50 states; and

Whereas,

The United States Congress repeatedly has interfered with the District of
Columbia�s limited self�government by enacting laws that affect the District�s
expenditure of its locally raised tax revenue, including barring the use of
locally raised revenue, thus violating the fundamental principle that states
and local governments are best suited to enact legislation that represents the
will of their citizens; and

Whereas,

Although the District of Columbia has passed consecutive balanced budgets since
FY1997, it still faces the possibility of being shut down yearly because of
Congressional deliberations over the federal budget; and

Whereas,

District of Columbia Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and Delaware United States
Senator Tom Carper introduced in the 118th Congress H.R. 51 and S. 51, the
Washington, D.C. Admission Act, to provide that the State of Washington, D.C.
would have all the rights of citizenship as taxpaying American citizens,
including two Senators and at least one House member; and

Whereas,

The United Nations Human Rights Committee has called on the United States
Congress to address the District of Columbia�s lack of political equality, and
the Organization of American States has declared the disenfranchisement of the
District of Columbia�s residents a violation of its charter agreement, to which
the United States is a signatory; now, therefore,

����
Be It
Resolved
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:

���� 1.��� This joint resolution supports
admitting Washington, D.C. into the Union as a state of the United States of
America.

���� 2.��� The members of the
United States Congress are urged to enact federal legislation granting
statehood to the people of Washington, D.C.

���� 3.��� Copies of this
resolution, as filed with the Secretary of State, shall be transmitted by the
Clerk of the General Assembly or the Secretary of the Senate to the Mayor of
D.C., and each member of Congress elected from this State.

���� 4. �This joint resolution
shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

���� This joint resolution urges Congress
to enact legislation granting statehood to Washington, D.C.�

���� Residents of the District of
Columbia share all the responsibilities of United States citizenship, including
paying more federal taxes than residents of 22 states, serving on federal
juries, and defending the United States as members of the United States Armed
Forces, yet they are denied full representation in Congress.

���� The residents of the District
of Columbia themselves have endorsed statehood.� In 2016, a referendum was
passed favoring statehood by 86 percent.��