SENATE BILL: Atlasia Territorial Statehood Act (Passed)

[MAINEiac4434]

I propose an amendment

SENATE BILL

To provide statehood to the territories of the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Atlasian Samoa

Be it Enacted in Both Houses of Congress Assembled,

Section 1: Title
1. This act shall be titled the “Atlasia Territorial Statehood Act”

Section 2: Granting Statehood
1. The territory of the Virgin Islands shall be granted statehood on October 1st, 2019
2. The state of the Virgin Islands shall be located within the Lincoln Region
3. The territories of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands shall be granted statehood on October 1st, 2019
4. The territory of Atlasian Samoa shall be granted statehood on October 1st, 2019
5. The states of Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Atlasian Samoa shall be located within the Fremont Region

Section 3: Granting Citizenship
1. All Atlasian nationals within the territories of Guam, Atlasian Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands shall be granted citizenship
2. Any person born in the territory of Guam, Atlasian Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, or the Virgin Islands shall be granted citizenship

Section 4: Implementation
1. This act shall go into effect immediately

People's Regional Senate
Pending

Sponsor: OntarioProgressive
Senate Designation: SB 9013

[MAINEiac4434]

Considering the populations involved, I'd prefer not to add them as states (maybe annex them to Hawaii and Puerto Rico if necessary), but if we were to do so, then Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands should be merged into a single state.

I object to the ammendment (though I'm pretty sure only the sponsor can formally object).

I personally would be against annexing these territories to existing states, in particular the Virgin Islands with Puerto Rico. This was the original proposal when PR statehood was first brought up, and it was found that the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico are too fundamentally different culturally to be in the same state. I happen to agree with that.

I would also imagine there are very significant cultural differences between most of the Pacific Island territories and Hawaii, especially because Guam and the NMI are Micronesian while Hawaii is Polynesian.

Yeah, considering cultural differences, it's probably best not to merge them. Still statehood is also not the best choice because of their low populations.

The Guam-NMI state would have slightly more than 210k people while the Virgin Islands would have around half that. Meanwhile Wyoming has almost 600k people, 3 times as much as Guam-NMI and 6 times as much as the USVI.

I think the best choice is probably to leave them as territories (or give them independence if they choose to, but that doesn't seem likely either). Giving territories almost the same rights as states might be a good idea in that case though.

That would require an amendment to the constitution.

[MAINEiac4434]

Furthermore, these people are Atlasian citizens and pay Atlasian taxes. They deserve representation.

[MAINEiac4434]

Nay

[MAINEiac4434]

I think everyone’s said everything they wish to here. I motion for a final vote.