Senators Gilbert, Sanborn, Cropsey, Patterson, Kuipers, Van Woerkom and Birkholz offered the following resolution:

            Senate Resolution No. 105.

            A resolution to memorialize the United States Congress to adopt and transmit to the states for ratification an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would ensure that apportionment is based on citizens and not non-citizens.

            Whereas, Reapportionment based on the counting of non-citizens in the federal census is adversely affecting the United States Congress and the American political process. Since 1960, Michigan and other Midwestern states have had to sacrifice congressional representation to the faster-growing states of Florida, California, and Texas. The redistributions of congressional seats in the 1970 and 1980 censuses were almost completely due to internal migration; citizens moving from the Northeastern and Midwestern states to the South and West. However, since 1990, immigration has been driving reapportionment. During that decade the number of non-citizens grew by almost 680,000 annually. By March 2005 there were nearly 22 million non-citizens in this country, comprising 7.4 percent of the total population; and

            Whereas, Immigration is having a significant effect on the distribution of congressional seats for several reasons. First, seats are apportioned based on each state's total population relative to the rest of the country, including legal immigrants and illegal non-citizens. Second, Congress permits a significant number of legal immigrants to enter this country and permits hordes of illegals to brazenly flout our immigration laws by crossing our porous borders unchallenged. According to the 2000 census, there were more than 18 million non-citizens in the United States, equaling the population of almost 29 congressional districts. Further, non-citizens are not equally distributed throughout the nation. In 2000, over 9 million non-citizens lived in 3 states and nearly 70 percent resided in 6 states; and

            Whereas, The impact of non-citizens on apportionment is tremendous. In 2000, the presence of non-citizens caused Michigan and 8 other states to lose congressional seats. Moreover, Michigan was one of 4 states to lose seats directly to the illegal immigrant havens of California, Texas, New York, and Florida. It is important to realize that Michigan did not lose a congressional seat because its population was in decline. Instead, legal and illegal immigration caused the population of other states to grow at an even faster pace; now, therefore, be it

            Resolved by the Senate, That we memorialize the United States Congress to adopt and transmit to the states for ratification an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would ensure that apportionment is based on citizens and not non-citizens; and be it further

            Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and the members of the Michigan congressional delegation.