Bill Text: HI HCR101 | 2022 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Urging And Applying To The Congress Of The United States Under The Provisions Of Article V Of The Constitution Of The United States For The Calling Of A Convention Of The States, Limited To Proposing Amendments To The Constitution Of The United States That Limit The Terms Of Office For Officials Of The Federal Government And Members Of Congress.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-03-14 - Referred to JHA, FIN, referral sheet 27 [HCR101 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2022-HCR101-Introduced.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	101
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2022
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

urging and applying to the congress of the united states under the provisions of Article V of the Constitution of the United States for the calling of a convention of the states, limited to proposing amendments to the Constitution of the United States that limit the terms of office for officials of the federal government and members of Congress.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, Executive Orders by the President of the United States have become a vehicle through which the President may overstep the limits of 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 interests in Washington, D.C.; and

 

WHEREAS, much of federal law is now enacted by federal bureaucrats who were never chosen by the people and have no accountability to the people whatsoever; and

 

WHEREAS, policy decisions made at the state level tend to be more responsive to the needs and desires of the people; and

 

WHEREAS, the states have the ability to restore the responsiveness of government to the people and to restrain abuses of federal power by proposing amendments to the Constitution of the United States through a limited convention of the states under Article V; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2022, the Senate concurring, that this body urges and applies to the Congress of the United States under the provisions of Article V of the Constitution of the United States for the calling of a convention of the states, limited to proposing amendments to the Constitution of the United States that limit the terms of office for officials of the federal government and members of Congress; subject, however, to the following reservations, understandings, and declarations:

 

     (1)  An application to the Congress of the United States to call an amendment convention of the states pursuant to Article V of the United States Constitution confers no power to Congress other than the power to call such a 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 a convention;

 

     (2)  Congress shall perform its ministerial duty of calling an amendment convention of the states only upon the receipt of applications for an amendment convention for substantially the same purpose as this application from two-thirds of the legislatures of the several states;

 

     (3)  Congress does not have the power or authority to determine any rules for the governing of an amendment convention of the states pursuant to Article V of the United States Constitution.  Congress does not have the power to set the number of delegates sent by any state to such a convention, nor does it have the power to name delegates to such a convention.  The power to name delegates remains exclusively within the authority of the legislatures of the several states;

 

     (4)  By definition, an amendment convention of the states means that 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 consideration of the topic specified herein and no other.  This application is made with the express understanding that an amendment that in any way seeks to amend, modify, or repeal any provision of the Bill of Rights shall not be authorized for consideration at any stage.  This application shall be void ab initio if ever used at any stage to consider any change 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.  This body of the State of Hawaii recommends that Congress select ratification by the legislatures of the several states; and

 

     (7)  This body of the State of Hawaii may provide further instructions to its delegates and may recall its delegates at any time for a breach of duty or a violation of the instructions provided; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this application constitutes a continuing application in accordance with Article V of the Constitution of the United States 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, the Speaker and Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, and the presiding officers of each of the legislative houses in each of the other forty-nine states.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Convention of the States; Article V; Term Limits