HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	3
TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2017
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

Requesting Hawaii's congressional delegation to introduce legislation for and to support an amendment to Article V of the united states Constitution to permit two-thirds of the states to directly propose specific constitutional amendments, in substitution for the states' current authority to call for a constitutional convention by the congress.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, Article V of the Constitution of the United States provides for two methods of amending the Constitution, one initiated by congressional action and the other initiated by the states; and

 

     WHEREAS, to date, all constitutional amendments have been congressionally initiated through the process whereby two-thirds of each house of Congress proposes the constitutional amendment; and

 

     WHEREAS, the state-initiated process, whereby Congress calls for a constitutional convention to consider amendments upon the application of two-thirds of state legislatures, has never been employed; and

 

     WHEREAS, the state-initiated constitutional convention is potentially open-ended and therefore too cumbersome and problematic in light of current and foreseeable circumstances; and

 

     WHEREAS, permitting the direct submission of proposed constitutional amendments by two-thirds of the states would be a more effective process for state-initiated amendments; and

 

     WHEREAS, the existing constitutional requirement that three-fourths of all states must ratify any proposed constitutional amendment remains the ultimate safeguard against poorly considered amendments, irrespective of source; and

 

     WHEREAS, currently only Congress is authorized to directly propose an amendment to Article V of the Constitution of the United States to permit the states to directly propose specific amendments rather than require Congress to call for a potentially open-ended constitutional convention that could result in constitutional changes other than those desired by the states; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-ninth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2017, the Senate concurring, that Hawaii's congressional delegation is requested to introduce legislation for and to support an amendment to Article V of the Constitution of the United States to permit two-thirds of the states to directly propose specific constitutional amendments, in substitution for the states' current authority to call for a constitutional convention by the Congress; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the members of Hawaii's congressional delegation and the chief executive officer of each house of every state legislature in the United States.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

U.S. Constitution Amendment; State-Initiated Proposed Amendments