Bill Text: TX HJR146 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Applying to Congress to call a convention, to propose an amendment to the United States Constitution urging the restoration of free and fair elections.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 2-1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-04-30 - Left pending in committee [HJR146 Detail]
Download: Texas-2015-HJR146-Introduced.html
84R11949 JRJ-F | ||
By: Peña | H.J.R. No. 146 |
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applying to Congress to call a convention, to propose an amendment | ||
to the United States Constitution urging the restoration of free | ||
and fair elections. | ||
WHEREAS, Our first president of the United States, George | ||
Washington, declared: "The basis of our political systems is the | ||
right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of | ||
government" (Farewell Address, 1796); and | ||
WHEREAS, It was the clear intention of the framers of the | ||
Constitution of the United States that the Congress of the United | ||
States should be "dependent on the people alone" (James Madison, | ||
Federalist No. 52) and that dependency has evolved from a | ||
dependency on the people alone to a dependency on those who | ||
contribute lavishly and spend excessively in election campaigns or | ||
via third-party groups; and | ||
WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment to the United States | ||
Constitution declares: "The powers not delegated to the United | ||
States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are | ||
reserved to the States respectively, or to the people," which, | ||
until 2010, had consistently been interpreted as allowing the | ||
several states to establish their own laws governing the financing | ||
of elections; and | ||
WHEREAS, Since 1905, with the passage of the Terrell Election | ||
Law and continuing for the next 105 years, the Texas Legislature has | ||
consistently exercised its legal authority to mitigate corrupting | ||
influences in its electoral process by establishing laws governing | ||
the financing of elections; and | ||
WHEREAS, The United States Supreme Court removed | ||
restrictions on independent and aggregate spending, effectively | ||
denying the several states the ability to establish their own laws | ||
governing the financing of elections and the removal of those | ||
restrictions has resulted in the undue influence of powerful | ||
economic forces, which have supplanted the will of the people by | ||
undermining their ability to choose their political leadership and | ||
determine the fate of their states and the nation as a whole; and | ||
WHEREAS, Article V of the United States Constitution included | ||
the convention method of proposing federal constitutional | ||
amendments at the urging of the delegates to the 1787 | ||
Constitutional Convention, held in Philadelphia, so that the | ||
several states could protect themselves, and their citizens, from | ||
encroachments of the federal government and preserve our Republic | ||
in the event that the federal government became unresponsive to the | ||
will of the American people; and | ||
WHEREAS, The nation's 34th president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, | ||
affirmed: "Through their state legislatures and without regard to | ||
the federal government, the people can demand a convention to | ||
propose amendments that can and will reverse any trends they see as | ||
fatal to true representative government."; and | ||
WHEREAS, Article V of the United States Constitution requires | ||
Congress to call a convention for proposing amendments to the | ||
constitution on the application of two-thirds of the legislatures | ||
of the several states, an assurance made abundantly clear by | ||
Alexander Hamilton in Federalist No. 85, who noted that: "The words | ||
of this article are peremptory. The Congress 'shall call a | ||
convention.' Nothing in this particular is left to the discretion | ||
of that body. And of consequence, all the declamation about the | ||
disinclination to a change vanishes in air."; and | ||
WHEREAS, The legislature perceives the need for an amendments | ||
convention in order to restore free and fair elections in America by | ||
reducing the corrupting influence of money in politics and desires | ||
that said convention be so limited; and | ||
WHEREAS, The 84th Texas Legislature intends that this joint | ||
resolution be a continuing application aggregated together with | ||
similar applications calling for a convention on this subject, such | ||
as those approved by Vermont legislators (2014 Vermont R454, Joint | ||
Resolution Senate No. 27, 160 Congressional Record S4331, | ||
POM-284), by California legislators (2014 California Resolution | ||
Chapter 77, Assembly Joint Resolution No. 1, 160 Congressional | ||
Record S5507, POM-320) and by Illinois legislators (2014 Illinois | ||
Senate Joint Resolution No. 42) and introduced by Montana | ||
legislators in 2015 (House Joint Resolution No. 3), until such time | ||
as the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states have | ||
applied for such a convention and that convention has actually been | ||
called by Congress; now, therefore, be it | ||
RESOLVED, That the Texas delegates to said convention be | ||
composed equally of individuals currently elected to state and | ||
local office, or be selected by election, in each congressional | ||
district in Texas, for the purpose of serving as Texas delegates, | ||
though all individuals elected or appointed to federal office now, | ||
or in the past, be prohibited from serving as Texas delegates to | ||
such a convention; and, be it further | ||
RESOLVED, That the legislature intends to retain the ability | ||
to restrict or expand the authority of its Texas delegates within | ||
the limits herein expressed; and, be it further | ||
RESOLVED, That the 84th Texas Legislature apply to Congress | ||
to call a convention under Article V of the United States | ||
Constitution for the limited purpose of proposing an amendment to | ||
the constitution to urge the restoration of free and fair | ||
elections; and, be it further | ||
RESOLVED, That, unless rescinded by a succeeding | ||
legislature, this application by the 84th Texas Legislature | ||
constitutes a continuing application in accordance with Article V | ||
of the United States Constitution until at least two-thirds of the | ||
legislatures of the several states have applied to Congress to call | ||
a convention for the limited purpose of proposing an amendment to | ||
the constitution to urge the restoration of free and fair | ||
elections; and, be it further | ||
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official | ||
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to | ||
the speaker of the House of Representatives and the president of the | ||
Senate of the Congress of the United States, and to all members of | ||
the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that this | ||
resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as an | ||
application to Congress for a convention under Article V of the | ||
United States Constitution for the limited purpose of proposing an | ||
amendment to the constitution to urge the restoration of free and | ||
fair elections; and, be it further | ||
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official | ||
copies of this resolution to the secretaries of state and to the | ||
presiding officers of the legislatures of the several states with | ||
the request that they join this state in applying to Congress for a | ||
convention under Article V of the United States Constitution for | ||
the limited purpose of proposing an amendment to the constitution | ||
to urge the restoration of free and fair elections. |