Bill Text: HI SCR196 | 2024 | Regular Session | Introduced

Hawaii Senate Concurrent Resolution 196

Introduced

Bill Title: Applying To The United States Congress To Call An Article V Convention To Propose Certain Limited Amendments To The United States Constitution.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-03-25 - Report adopted, referred to JDC. [SCR196 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2024-SCR196-Introduced.html

THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	196
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2024
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

applying to the united states congress to call an article v convention to propose CERTAIN LIMITED amendments to the united states constitution.

WHEREAS, executive orders by the President of the United States have become vehicles for overstepping the President's constitutional authority; and

WHEREAS, the concentration of power at the federal level has made federal officials less responsive to the will of the people and more readily influenced by lobbyists, wealthy corporations, and special interest groups; and

WHEREAS, rulemaking authority allows federal law to be enacted by bureaucrats who were never chosen by, and have no accountability to, the people; and

WHEREAS, the federal government has created a crushing national debt through improper and imprudent spending; and

WHEREAS, policy decisions made at the state level may be more responsive to the people's needs; and

WHEREAS, federal moneys allocated to Hawaii for economic development are generally subject to federal fiscal restraints; and

WHEREAS, the federal government has interfered in matters within the states' authority by imposing federal mandates, including unfunded mandates; and

WHEREAS, the states can restore the responsiveness of the federal government to the people and restrain federal abuses of power by applying for a convention in accordance with Article V of the United States Constitution to propose amendments to the Constitution; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2024, the House of Representatives concurring, that the United States Congress is urged to call an Article V convention to propose certain amendments to the United States Constitution, limited to amendments that:

(1) Impose fiscal restrains on the federal government;

(2) Limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government; and

(3) Limit the terms of office for federal officials and members of Congress; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this application for an Article V convention is subject to the following conditions:

(1) This application to the United States Congress to call an Article V convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution confers no power on Congress other than the power to call the convention. The power of Congress to exercise this ministerial duty consists solely of the authority to name a reasonable time and place for the initial meeting of the convention;

(2) Congress shall perform its ministerial duty of calling an Article V convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution only upon the receipt of applications from two-thirds of the legislatures of the several states;

(3) Congress shall not have the power or authority to determine any rules governing an Article V convention. Congress does not have the power to determine the number of delegates sent by any state to the convention, or the power to name states' delegates to the convention. The power to name delegates remains exclusively within the state legislatures;

(4) At any Article V convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution, the states shall vote on the basis of one state, one vote;

(5) A convention of the states convened pursuant to this application shall be limited to the consideration of the topics specified herein, and no others. This application is made with the express understanding that no proposed amendment that in any way seeks to amend, modify, or repeal any provision of the Bill of Rights shall be authorized for consideration at any stage of the convention. This application shall be void ab initio if ever used, at any stage, to consider any changes to any provision of the Bill of Rights;

(6) Pursuant to Article V of the United States Constitution, Congress may determine whether proposed amendments shall be ratified by the legislatures of the several states or by special state ratification conventions. The Legislature of the State of Hawaii recommends that Congress select ratification by the legislatures of the several states; and

(7) If a convention of the states is convened pursuant to this application, the Legislature of the State of Hawaii reserves the right to provide further instructions to its delegates and to recall its delegates at any time for any breach of duty or violation of the instructions provided; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this application constitutes a continuing application in accordance with Article V of the United States Constitution, until the legislatures of at least two-thirds of the several states have made applications on the same subject; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Majority Leader and Secretary of the United States Senate, Speaker and Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, members of Hawaii's congressional delegation, and presiding officers of each of the legislative houses in each of the other forty-nine states.