Bill Text: NH SCR3 | 2016 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Applying to the United States Congress to convene a limited convention for the exclusive purpose of proposing amendments to the federal Constitution concerning election reform that do not abrogate or amend the first amendment to the federal Constitution.
Sponsorship: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-1)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2016-07-27 - Died on Table [SCR3 Detail]
Download: New_Hampshire-2016-SCR3-Introduced.html
SCR 3 - AS INTRODUCED
2016 SESSION
16-2814
10/03
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 3
A RESOLUTION applying to the United States Congress to convene a limited convention for the exclusive purpose of proposing a free and fair elections amendment to the United States Constitution.
SPONSORS: Sen. Pierce, Dist 5; Sen. Lasky, Dist 13; Sen. Kelly, Dist 10; Sen. Reagan, Dist 17
COMMITTEE: Rules, Enrolled Bills & Internal Affairs
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ANALYSIS
This senate concurrent resolution requests that the United States Congress convene a convention to propose amendments to the federal Constitution for the exclusive purpose of restoring free and fair elections.
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16-2814
10/03
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Sixteen
A RESOLUTION applying to the United States Congress to convene a limited convention for the exclusive purpose of proposing a free and fair elections amendment to the United States Constitution.
Whereas, elections in the United States of America should be free from the corrupting influence of excessive spending and fair enough that any citizen can be elected into office; and
Whereas, the first President of the United States, George Washington, in his farewell address of 1796, said, “The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their Constitutions of Government;" and
Whereas, it was the stated intention of the framers of the Constitution of the United States of America that the Congress should be "dependent on the people alone" (James Madison, Federalist no. 52); and
Whereas, that dependency has evolved from a dependency on the people alone to a dependency on those who spend excessively in elections directly and via third-party groups; and
Whereas, the United States Supreme Court rulings in McCutcheon v. Federal Elections Commission (2014) and Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010) removed restrictions on aggregate and independent political spending; and
Whereas, the removal of those restrictions has resulted in a corruption of our political process and the undue influence of powerful economic forces which have supplanted the will of the people by undermining our ability to choose our political leadership, write our own laws, and determine the fate of our state and the nation as a whole; and
Whereas, the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution states: "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 states to establish their own laws governing the financing of elections; and
Whereas, the American people, when asked, overwhelmingly express their desire to remove the corrupting influence of money from our political process; and
Whereas, the United States Congress has been unresponsive to this expressed will of the American citizenry in addressing the problem of corrupting money in politics; and
Whereas, the Constitution of the State of New Hampshire affirms that governments should be responsive to the people (Article 8) and that the people have both the right and duty to effect reform when it is not, stating that to do otherwise is “destructive of the good and happiness of mankind” (Article 10); and
Whereas, Article V of the United States Constitution requires the United States Congress to convene a convention for proposing amendments upon application of 2/3 of the legislatures of the several states; and
Whereas, the state of New Hampshire sees the need for a convention to propose amendments in order to respond to the will of the people and address the corrupting influence of money in our political process including, inter alia, relevant decisions by the United States Supreme Court, and desires that said convention be so limited; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate, the House of Representatives concurring:
That the state of New Hampshire, speaking through its legislature and pursuant to Article V of the United States Constitution, hereby petitions the United States Congress to convene a convention to propose amendments to the federal Constitution for the exclusive purpose of restoring free and fair elections in the United States by removing the corrupting influence of excessive spending in our electoral process, including, inter alia, addressing concerns raised by McCutcheon v. FEC, Citizens United v. FEC and related decisions, as soon as 2/3 of the states have approved similar applications for a convention; and
That the state of New Hampshire desires that the delegates to said convention shall be comprised equally of individuals currently elected to state and local office, or be selected by election, in each Congressional district for the purpose of serving as delegates, though all individuals elected or appointed to federal office, now or in the past, be prohibited from serving as delegates to the Convention, and intends to retain the ability to restrict or expand the power of its delegates within the limits expressed above; and
That the state of New Hampshire intends that this be a continuing application considered together with applications calling for a convention passed in the 2013-2014 Vermont legislature as Joint Resolution Senate No. 27 (160 Congressional Record S4331, POM-284), the 2013-2014 California legislature's Assembly Joint Resolution No. 1 (160 Congressional Record S5507, POM-320), the 2013-2014 Illinois legislature's Senate Joint Resolution No. 42, the 2014-2015 New Jersey State legislature's Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 132, and all other past, pending, and future applications for a convention of similar purpose until at least 2/3 of the several states have applied for and Congress has convened a convention; and
That certified copies of this resolution be transmitted by the senate clerk to the President of the United States, the Vice-President of the United States, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives, the Majority Leader of the United States senate, and all members of New Hampshire's Congressional delegation with the respectful request that the full and complete text of this joint resolution be entered into the Congressional Record as an official memorial to Congress from the legislature of the state of New Hampshire, and to the presiding officers of the legislatures of each of the remaining states that have not yet applied to Congress for such a convention on this subject with the respectful request that they consider the adoption of similar legislation.
