District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act of 2009



Summary
The bill would give the District of Columbia a vote in the House starting January of 2011 and would give Utah another seat, thus bringing the House membership to 437.

Senate
The bill was introduced on January 6, 2009, and it was referred to the House Committee on Homeland Security the same day. It was added to the Senate calendar and on February 24 a Cloture vote to end debate and consider the bill succeeded by a vote of 62-34.



During the debate, the Senate adopted several amendments:


 * An amendment to bar federal regulators from reinstating an old rule, the Fairness Doctrine, which requires balanced coverage of issues discussed on public airwaves.




 * A parallel amendment, urging the FCC to promote diversity in media ownership and clarifying that the Fairness Doctrine amendment would not take away the FCC's authority to ensure that broadcasters meet their obligations to operate in the public interest, was also adopted.




 * They also added an amendment to repeal nearly all local gun-control laws in Washington D.C.



On February 26 the Senate voted to approve the bill, as amended, by a vote of 61-37:



External resources

 * Entry on THOMAS

External articles

 * Jim Abrams, "DC vote bill advances in Senate," The Associated Press, February 25, 2009.