Sponsors (44)
Introduced January 9, 2025 by Christopher Van Hollen · Last progress January 9, 2025
The bill grants full congressional representation and preserves many federal benefits and a structured transition for the new State while creating significant legal, fiscal, and administrative uncertainty and limiting some local control and state authority over federal lands and functions.
Residents of the new State (current D.C. residents) gain full congressional representation (two Senators and one Representative) and the House is expanded to 436 so existing seats are not lost.
Federal laws and programs will apply in the new State and key federal benefits are preserved during transition (continuity of D.C.-era federal retirement payments, FMAP Medicaid matching rate maintained temporarily), preventing abrupt loss of benefits or health coverage.
The bill clarifies federal property and boundary arrangements—retaining federal title to national monuments and specifying when federal exclusive authority ends—reducing legal uncertainty about federal assets and control over specific tracts.
Residents of the area removed from the Capital lose D.C. municipal status and some existing local governance arrangements, changing how local government is organized and services are provided.
Federal police (e.g., Capitol Police, Park Police, Secret Service Uniformed Division) are prohibited from enforcing State law within the new State unless specifically authorized, potentially complicating law enforcement coordination and responses.
A nonseverability clause means if a key provision (such as the admission provision) is invalidated, the entire Act and its amendments could be voided, creating major legal uncertainty for residents, officials, and federal agencies.
Based on analysis of 8 sections of legislative text.
Converts the District into the Douglass Commonwealth (a State), adds two Senators and one Representative, preserves certain federal land reservations and retirement obligations, and creates a transition commission.
Admits the District as a new State called the Douglass Commonwealth (styled the State of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth), including rules for the new State’s constitution and initial elections, and grants the new State full congressional representation (two Senators and an initial one Representative). The bill preserves federal control over certain defense and Coast Guard lands, protects existing federal and D.C. retirement and related benefits, updates certain federal residency and naming references in statutes, and sets up an 18‑member Statehood Transition Commission to manage the transition and report to federal and local authorities. It also requires the Mayor to call initial elections under D.C. law after presidential certification, makes technical statutory changes to judges’ and federal officers’ residency language, continues federal and D.C. retirement obligations after admission, and establishes deadlines and staffing rules for the transition commission; several provisions take effect on admission or are tied to presidential certification or enactment dates.