[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 157 Introduced in House (IH)]







111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 157

     To provide for the treatment of the District of Columbia as a 
 Congressional district for purposes of representation in the House of 
                Representatives, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 6, 2009

  Ms. Norton introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To provide for the treatment of the District of Columbia as a 
 Congressional district for purposes of representation in the House of 
                Representatives, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``District of Columbia House Voting 
Rights Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA AS CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 
District of Columbia shall be considered a Congressional district for 
purposes of representation in the House of Representatives.
    (b) Conforming Amendments Relating to Apportionment of Members of 
House of Representatives.--
            (1) Inclusion of single district of columbia member in 
        reapportionment of members among states.--Section 22 of the Act 
        entitled ``An Act to provide for the fifteenth and subsequent 
        decennial censuses and to provide for apportionment of 
        Representatives in Congress'', approved June 28, 1929 (2 U.S.C. 
        2a), is amended by adding at the end the following new 
        subsection:
    ``(d) This section shall apply with respect to the District of 
Columbia in the same manner as this section applies to a State, except 
that the District of Columbia may not receive more than one Member 
under any reapportionment of Members.''.
            (2) Clarification of determination of number of 
        presidential electors on basis of 23rd amendment.--Section 3 of 
        title 3, United States Code, is amended by striking ``come into 
        office;'' and inserting the following: ``come into office 
        (subject to the twenty-third article of amendment to the 
        Constitution of the United States in the case of the District 
        of Columbia);''.

SEC. 3. INCREASE IN MEMBERSHIP OF HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

    (a) Permanent Increase in Number of Members.--Effective with 
respect to the One Hundred Eleventh Congress and each succeeding 
Congress, the House of Representatives shall be composed of 437 
Members, including any Members representing the District of Columbia 
pursuant to section 2(a).
    (b) Reapportionment of Members Resulting From Increase.--
            (1) In general.--Section 22(a) of the Act entitled ``An Act 
        to provide for the fifteenth and subsequent decennial censuses 
        and to provide for apportionment of Representatives in 
        Congress'', approved June 28, 1929 (2 U.S.C. 2a(a)), is amended 
        by striking ``the then existing number of Representatives'' and 
        inserting ``the number of Representatives established with 
        respect to the One Hundred Eleventh Congress''.
            (2) Effective date.--The amendment made by paragraph (1) 
        shall apply with respect to the regular decennial census 
        conducted for 2010 and each subsequent regular decennial 
        census.
    (c) Special Rules for Period Prior to 2012 Reapportionment.--
            (1) Transmittal of revised statement of apportionment by 
        president.--Not later than 30 days after the date of the 
        enactment of this Act, the President shall transmit to Congress 
        a revised version of the most recent statement of apportionment 
        submitted under section 22(a) of the Act entitled ``An Act to 
        provide for the fifteenth and subsequent decennial censuses and 
        to provide for apportionment of Representatives in Congress'', 
        approved June 28, 1929 (2 U.S.C. 2a(a)), to take into account 
        this Act and the amendments made by this Act.
            (2) Report by clerk.--Not later than 15 calendar days after 
        receiving the revised version of the statement of apportionment 
        under paragraph (1), the Clerk of the House of Representatives, 
        in accordance with section 22(b) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 2a(b)), 
        shall send to the executive of each State a certificate of the 
        number of Representatives to which such State is entitled under 
        section 22 of such Act, and shall submit a report to the 
        Speaker of the House of Representatives identifying the State 
        (other than the District of Columbia) which is entitled to one 
        additional Representative pursuant to this section.
            (3) Requirements for election of additional member.--During 
        the One Hundred Eleventh Congress and the One Hundred Twelfth 
        Congress--
                    (A) notwithstanding the final undesignated 
                paragraph of the Act entitled ``An Act for the relief 
                of Doctor Ricardo Vallejo Samala and to provide for 
                congressional redistricting'', approved December 14, 
                1967 (2 U.S.C. 2c), the additional Representative to 
                which the State identified by the Clerk of the House of 
                Representatives in the report submitted under paragraph 
                (2) is entitled shall be elected from the State at 
                large; and
                    (B) the other Representatives to which such State 
                is entitled shall be elected on the basis of the 
                Congressional districts in effect in the State for the 
                One Hundred Tenth Congress.

SEC. 4. NONSEVERABILITY OF PROVISIONS.

    If any provision of this Act, or any amendment made by this Act, is 
declared or held invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions of 
this Act and any amendment made by this Act shall be treated and deemed 
invalid and shall have no force or effect of law.
                                 <all>