Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to provide that Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the number of persons in each State who are citizens of the United States.
This joint resolution proposes a constitutional amendment to change how the House of Representatives is apportioned among the states. Instead of counting every resident (the total population) to determine each state’s number of Representatives, the amendment would require counting only persons within each state who are citizens of the United States. In effect, states with larger shares of non-citizens (such as many immigrant residents) could lose seats to states with higher shares of U.S. citizens, because only citizens would be counted for apportionment. The amendment would become part of the Constitution if ratified by three-fourths of the states within seven years after its submission. It would apply to the apportionment process going forward from ratification.
Key Points
- 1It proposes a new constitutional formula for apportioning Representatives: seats allocated according to the number of U.S. citizens residing in each state.
- 2The counting standard would exclude non-citizens from the apportionment calculation; only citizens of the United States would be counted.
- 3The text would supersede the current “count all persons” basis (which uses total population) for the purpose of House apportionment.
- 4It establishes the standard constitutional process for amendment: two-thirds of both House and Senate must concur, and three-fourths of state legislatures must ratify within seven years of submission.
- 5It specifies that the amendment becomes valid as part of the Constitution once ratified, applying to future apportionment once in effect.