Pacifican Statehood Act of 2006

[Q]

Pacifican Statehood Act of 2006
Sponsor: Senator MasterJedi

I. After a majority of vote by the citizens of Guam, Atlasian Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands voting in the affirmative in a referendum administrated five days after the passage of this act by the territory governments of the commonwealths of Guam, Atlasian Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands are hereby entered in the Union of Atlasia as a new state of Pacifica.
II. Pacifica shall become a state in the Pacific Region.
III. Pacifica shall be assigned to District 5 until the next round of redistricting when commensurate with the Constitution it shall be liable to be moved to another District.
IV. The state of Pacifica shall be given full rights under whichever region/district it’s placed into and be under full jurisdiction of the Atlasian Constitution.
V. Section 2 of the Miscellany Act shall be amended, following a majority of the citizens of Guam, Atlasian Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands voting in the affirmative to grant Pacifica statehood to contain a clause 6, the text of which shall be as follows: “Pacifica is contiguous to Alaska”, a clause 7, the text of which shall be as follows: “Pacifica is be contiguous to Hawaii”, and a clause 8, the text of which shall be as follows: “Pacifica is contiguous to California”.

[Yates]

I cast my vote for the Puerto Rican Statehood Act.  However, I do not believe that the islands of Pacifica have the same connection the current states that we can see in Puerto Rico.  Therefore, I am, as of now, in opposition to this act.

[Bacon King]

I'm all for self determination for our territories, but we shouldn't go crazy admitting states. I'm currently undecided- I'd like to hear arguments for or against this bill before I've made up my mind.

[Gabu]

What would be the total population of this state, if created?  It can't be over 100,000.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Guam 168,564
CNMI 80,006 (About 90% on Saipan, with Tinian and Rota the only other two inhabitted islands.  Some of the others were inhabited, but had to be evacuated due to volcanic activity.)
American Samoa 70,260

Total: ~320,000 [figures above are not all from the same time]

However, except for being Atlasian territories, Samoa has nothing in common with the other two.  Samoa is Polynesian while Guam and CNMI are Micronesian.  If people are truly desperate to eliminate territories, offer American Samoa the chance to join with Samoa and propose a state of Mariana, not Pacifica. 

[Gabu]

Guam 168,564
CNMI 80,006 (About 90% on Saipan, with Tinian and Rota the only other two inhabitted islands.  Some of the others were inhabited, but had to be evacuated due to volcanic activity.)
American Samoa 70,260

Total: ~320,000 [figures above are not all from the same time] 

My mistake; I thought the population was less than that.

[Q]

The USVI would be in a unique position if this passes.

[MasterJedi]

I ask people to support this bill, we have given Puerto Rico the chance to have a vote to joint Atlasia and why shouldn't our Pacific Territories have a chance?

As for what Gabu said, if it was that low I wouldn't have even introduced this in the first place. A state with only about 100,000 people would be insane.

[CheeseWhiz]

I cast my vote for the Puerto Rican Statehood Act.  However, I do not believe that the islands of Pacifica have the same connection the current states that we can see in Puerto Rico.  Therefore, I am, as of now, in opposition to this act.

^^^^^

Also, all those islands are spaced pretty far apart.  That, IMO, would make it pretty difficult for the Governor, or any other elected position, to be in touch with all the people of Pacifica.

[Bacon King]

Seing as how American Samoa is of a different culture entirely from the other islands in this proposed Pacifica, and therefore contain no common bond with Guam and the Northern Marianas other than being American territories in the same ocean, I propose the following amendment:

All instances of "American Samoa" are stricken from the bill.

[Platypus]

May I suggest a seperate vote for American Samoa in which it decides between four options:

1. Continuation of the Status Quo
2. Complete Independence
3. Joining [Western] Samoa (dependent on Samoan support of course)
4. Voting along with other US territories in the Pacific to form a state of Pacifica

This would have to be held before the vote of all the territories, though. Also, Navassa Island, Jarvis Atoll, etc. should be included even if they have no permanent population.

[MasterJedi]

I hereby open up the vote on this amendment. Please vote Aye, Nay or Abstain.

All instances of "American Samoa" are stricken from the bill.

[MasterJedi]

Abstain

[CheeseWhiz]

Abstain

[Bacon King]

I vote a half-hearted Aye - I would also be fine with hughento's plan for dealing with American Samoa.

[Hatman 🍁]

Nay

[Gabu]

Abstain.  I probably will not be voting in favor of this regardless, so I don't care.

[Democratic Hawk]

Nay . I'm considering an amendment of my own to this Bill

'Hawk'

[Peter]

Nay

[MasterJedi]

I change my vote to Nay.

This amendment has failed.

[Q]

Would it be possible to include the Atlasian Virgin Islands in this legislation so that, if the legislation passes, it would not be the only territory without elected representation?

[MasterJedi]

Would it be possible to include the Atlasian Virgin Islands in this legislation so that, if the legislation passes, it would not be the only territory without elected representation?

The problem is that the three islands in this legislation are in the Pacific and the Virgin Islands are in the Caribbean. It wouldn't be that compatible of a state IMO.

[Hatman 🍁]

We can amend the Puerto Rico act to include the Virgin Islands with it.

[MasterJedi]

We can amend the Puerto Rico act to include the Virgin Islands with it.

Not really, what we could do is have another bill that would allow the VI to have a vote to see whether they want to join Puerto Rico in statehood.

But I should say that my original bill back in July had the VI with it and Ford (then GM) had people in the VI demonstrating against being in a state with Puerto Rico because the culture is different.

[Hatman 🍁]

We can amend the Puerto Rico act to include the Virgin Islands with it.

Not really, what we could do is have another bill that would allow the VI to have a vote to see whether they want to join Puerto Rico in statehood.

But I should say that my original bill back in July had the VI with it and Ford (then GM) had people in the VI demonstrating against being in a state with Puerto Rico because the culture is different.

Well, the Virgin Islands have 124,000 people. It would be very small, but it's not miniscule. It's about the size of Canada's smallest province, so it should not be out of the question to have its own statehood.