Bill Text: HI SCR16 | 2012 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Petitioning Congress to Adopt a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-02-01 - (S) Referred to WAM. [SCR16 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2012-SCR16-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	16
TWENTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE, 2012
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

Petitioning the Congress of the United States to adopt an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, for submission to the states, to require, with certain exceptions, that the federal budget be balanced; or, in the alternative, to call a convention for the sole and exclusive purpose of proposing such an amendment for submission to the states for ratification.

 

     WHEREAS, with each passing year this nation becomes deeply in debt as its expenditures grossly and repeatedly exceed available revenues so that the public debt now exceeds four trillion dollars; and

 

     WHEREAS, attempts to limit spending, including the impoundment of funds by the President of the United States, have resulted in strenuous assertions that the responsibility for appropriations is the constitutional duty of the Congress; and

 

     WHEREAS, the annual federal budget repeatedly demonstrates the unwillingness or inability of both the legislative and executive branches of the Federal government to curtail spending to conform to available revenues; and

 

     WHEREAS, the unified budget does not reflect actual spending because of the exclusion of special outlays which are not in the budget; and

 

     WHEREAS, knowledgeable planning and fiscal prudence require that the budget reflect all federal spending and that the budget be in balance; and

 

     WHEREAS, believing that fiscal irresponsibility at the federal level is one of the greatest economic threats which faces our nation, we firmly believe that constitutional restraint is necessary to bring the fiscal discipline needed to reverse this trend; and

 

     WHEREAS, under Article V of the Constitution of the United States, amendments to the U.S. Constitution may be proposed by the Congress whenever two-thirds of both Houses deem it necessary, or on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states the Congress shall call a constitutional convention for the purpose of proposing amendments; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-sixth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2012, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Congress of the United States of America is hereby petitioned to adopt an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, for submission to the states for ratification, requiring, with certain exceptions, that for each fiscal year the President of the United States submit and the Congress of the United States adopt a balanced federal budget; or, in the alternative,

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED effective July 1, 2012 that pursuant to Article V of the Constitution of the United States, the Legislature makes application to the Congress of the United States of America to call a convention for the specific and exclusive purpose of proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, for submission to the states for ratification, requiring, with certain exceptions, that for each fiscal year the President of the United States submit and the Congress of the United States adopt a balanced federal budget; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that if Congress adopts, within ninety days after the legislatures of two-thirds of the states have made application for such convention, an amendment to the Constitution of the United States similar in subject matter to that contained in this resolution, then this application for a convention shall no longer be of any force or effect; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this application and request be deemed null and void, rescinded, and of no effect in the event that such convention not be limited to the aforementioned specific and exclusive purpose; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this application shall be deemed null and void, rescinded, and of no effect in the event the U.S. Supreme Court rules that a convention cannot be limited to the subject stated in thirty-four such applications; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this application by this Legislature constitutes a continuing application in accordance with Article V of the Constitution of the United States until at least two-thirds of the legislatures of the several states have made application for a similar convention pursuant to Article V or the Congress has proposed an amendment to the Constitution of the United States similar in subject matter to that contained in this Concurrent Resolution; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor and, by the Secretary of State to the President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, to each member of this state's delegation to the Congress and to the presiding officer of each house of each state legislature in the United States.

 

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Petitioning Congress to Adopt a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution.