Hawaii-2011-SCR87-Introduced

WHEREAS, recent experience has shown that the safeguards in the United States Constitution, as currently interpreted by the judiciary, are insufficient to require the federal government to comply with such basic rules of fiscal responsibility as balancing its own budget, preventing abuse of it legislative process, and mandating upon state government duties within adequate funding; and

WHEREAS, those who framed and adopted the Constitution included a provision by which state legislatures may require Congress to call a convention for proposing amendments as a way to respond to disagreements in constitutional interpretation or abuses by the federal officials; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature of the State of Hawaii accordingly has made application to Congress for the calling of a convention for proposing an amendment to the United States Constitution imposing certain rules of fiscal discipline, providing for legislative transparency, and preventing unfunded mandates on the federal government; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-sixth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2011, the House of Representatives concurring, as follows:

SECTION 1. The Legislature of the State of Hawaii affirms that under the practices and customs of federal conventions implicitly embedded in the Constitution, the convention call of Congress shall be limited to specifying the subject matter prescribed by the applications and; the delegates from each state shall be selected in the manner determined by that state’s law and subject to instructions from the legislature thereof or the legislature's designee; the convention shall adopt its own rules, including its own voting rules; until and unless the convention adopts a different rule, each state delegation shall have one vote; and the call and the agenda of the convention is limited to considering and proposing amendments addressing the subject-matter specified in the application.

SECTION 2. The Legislature of the State of Hawaii recommends that Congress call the convention for a time not earlier than three months or later than six months after Congress receives applications on this general subject matter from two thirds of the state legislatures.

SECTION 3. The legislature of the State of Hawaii further recommends that, to provide for the advanced planning of a convention-to-propose-amendments, informal committees be established by those states which have approved the same application as offered by this Legislature. The recommendations by the committees shall be advisory. Any events held prior to the convening of the convention-to-propose-amendments shall not be considered a function of the convention. The recommended informal committees are as follows:

(1) A Rules Committee, composed of representatives appointed by the legislatures from the first thirteen states approving the application, will prepare rules for the convention, which will be presented to the convention once it convenes.

(2) A Language and Style Committee, composed of representatives from the fourteenth through twenty-sixth states approving the application, will study and prepare suggested amendment language for each of the subjects in the application, which will be submitted to the delegates for consideration.

(3) A Planning Committee composed of representatives that approve the application after the twenty-sixth state, will plan an opening ceremony for the convention, make recommendations on the location for the convention, and secure funding for the convention.

(4) Any of these committees may invite representatives from other states that have passed the application.

SECTION 4. The Legislature of the State of Hawaii further recommends that each state send not more than seven delegates to the convention with the understanding the convention might limit the number of delegates from each state on the floor at any time.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the lieutenant governor is hereby directed to transmit copies of this Resolution, attached to the previously approved Application for a Convention-to-propose-amendments, to the President and Secretary of the United States Senate, the Speaker and Clerk of the House of Representatives of the United States Congress, and copies to the members of the Senate and House of Representatives who represent this State; also to transmit copies hereof to the presiding officers of each of the legislative chambers in the several States, requesting their cooperation.

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

Resolution of Sentiment; Convention to Propose Amendments.

THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	87
TWENTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE, 2011
STATE OF HAWAII