Resolution 985 – Expanding the Size of the US House of Representatives

WHEREAS the Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929 caps the size of the House of Representatives at 435 people; and 

WHEREAS in 2018 there was an estimated one voting member of the House for about 747,000 Americans, which is the highest population-to-representative ratio among a peer group of industrialized democracies, and the highest it’s been in U.S. history; and 

WHEREAS in the century-plus since the number of House seats first reached its current total of 435 (excluding nonvoting delegates), the representation ratio has more than tripled – from one representative for every 209,447 people in 1910 to one for every 747,184; and

WHEREAS the population-to-representation ratio varies greatly across states, with the representative from Montana representing over a million people from 2012-2022 and the representative from Rhode Island representing around 529,000 throughout the decade; and

WHEREAS the platform of the Washington State Democrats calls for full congressional representation and statehood for the District of Columbia, which will further increase the population-to-representation ratio if the size of the House remains fixed at 435.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Washington State Democratic Central Committee support federal legislation to increase the size of the House of Representatives; and 

THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Washington State Democratic Central Committee call upon our federal delegation to co-sponsor H.R. 996, or similar legislation, which would establish a commission to make recommendations on the appropriate size of membership of the House of Representatives and the method by which Members are elected.

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