List of Rescissions of Article V Convention Applications

Article V of the United States Constitution provides that the legislatures of the several states may apply to Congress for a convention to propose amendments to the Constitution. Left unclear, however, is whether a state's legislature which has applied to Congress for such a convention may later change its sentiment and rescind such application.

If the purpose of Article V is to give state legislators power over a recalcitrant Congress—and if state lawmakers may indeed limit their applications by specific subject matter—it is possible that federal courts would hold that a rescission of a previous application is likewise valid, in order to give more meaningful effect to the power which Article V confers upon state legislators.

Recent activities

The legislatures of some states which, at various times, have made application to Congress for the calling of an Article V amendatory convention, have later rescinded such requests. During the period between 1988 to 2016, it is known that lawmakers in 18 states adopted legislation to rescind previous legislative measures to apply for such a convention. Perhaps there were others in addition to the 18 which are confirmed. Remaining unclear from the language of Article V—and subject to debate—is whether an application, once made by a state legislature, may be subsequently revoked by that state's legislature.

Interestingly, from 2008 to 2016 in 10 of those very same 18 states, lawmakers changed their minds yet again—back in the direction of favoring that an Article V amendatory convention in fact be called.

List of state legislative rescissions from 1988 to 2016

What follows is a listing of states whose legislatures are confirmed to have approved resolutions, petitions, and memorials rescinding previous resolutions, petitions, and memorials applying for an Article V amendatory convention. These known 17 rescissions have been officially received by at least one of the two houses of Congress and were, at a minimum, summarized in the Congressional Record and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary in either house of Congress. Again, the list below, covering 1988 to present, might not be all-inclusive:

Unsuccessful legislation introduced in states from 2011 to 2016 to rescind prior Article V Convention applications

From 2011 to 2016, measures to rescind previous convention calls were known to have been introduced in nine states:

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

Incomplete state legislative actions from 2010 to 2016 to apply for an Article V Convention

2010

During the 2010 state legislative season, there was at least one state in which it is known that Article V amendatory convention applications were approved by one chamber of that state's bicameral legislature. On June 9, 2010, the Louisiana House of Representatives approved ten concurrent resolutions requesting that Congress call separate Article V conventions on various subject matters. Aside from referring all ten of them to its Finance Committee—where they all died—the Louisiana Senate did not take further action on these concurrent resolutions:

2011

During the 2011 state legislative season, there were at least five states in which it is known that Article V amendatory convention applications were approved by one chamber of bicameral legislatures. While there may be other examples, the known five are:

2012

During the 2012 state legislative season, it is known that in five states Article V amendatory convention applications were approved by one chamber of a bicameral legislature. While it is possible that there were others, the five known examples are:

Likewise during the 2012 state legislative season, there was one state in which an alleged Article V Convention so-called "application" was approved by one chamber of a bicameral legislature. That was:

2013

During the 2013 state legislative season, it is known that Article V amendatory convention applications received the approval of one chamber of the following three bicameral state legislatures:

2014

During the 2014 state legislative season, it is known that Article V Convention applications received the approval of one chamber of the following seven bicameral state legislatures:

2015

During the 2015 legislative season, it is known that Article V Convention applications received the approval of one chamber of the following 16 bicameral state legislatures:

2016

During the 2016 legislative season, as it exists thus far, it is known that Article V Convention applications received the approval of one chamber of the following nine bicameral state legislatures:

Attempts at state-imposed limitations and restrictions upon delegates to an Article V Convention

The last time that a proposed Federal law was introduced in Congress to establish procedures for—and to impose limitations and restrictions upon—delegates to an Article V amendatory convention was in 1991 when United States Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah offered the bill S. 214 ("Constitutional Convention Implementation Act of 1991") during the 102nd Congress. Senator Hatch's proposed Federal legislation received no further consideration than to be referred to the Committee on the Judiciary in the United States Senate on January 15, 1991.

Noting that, for more than two decades, Congress has demonstrated no interest in clarifying, via Federal statute, the limitations and restrictions of an Article V amendatory convention—and deeming it proper to take matters into their own hands—lawmakers in exactly half of the 50 states have offered legislation in recent years to impose, in state law, limitations and restrictions upon delegates (from those specific states) who would be participating in a national Article V Convention. While there might be others, the following are known examples from 25 states:

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

"Compact with America" (or "Compact for America"), "Management Study", and "Select Committee on a Convention of the States"

Employing a slightly different strategy not attempted previously, there is, in the years 2013 and 2014, a movement afoot within the legislatures of some states to invoke that provision of the United States Constitution which allows for interstate compacts (namely Article I, Section 10) to be utilized for setting uniform ground rules on the applying process for the calling of an Article V convention to propose an amendment to the Constitution which, if such an amendment were to be ratified, would require that the Federal budget be balanced.

In 2013 and 2014, bills are known to have been offered in six states that would, if passed, form such a "Compact for America".

2013

Taking yet another approach is the concept of a "management study" offered during 2013 in North Dakota (House Bill No. 1446) which management study would be "...related to the calling of a convention under article V of the United States Constitution, including concerns associated with a 'runaway' convention and methods through which states have addressed those concerns...". Having passed the North Dakota House of Representatives on February 26, 2013, House Bill No. 1446 was defeated by a vote of 16 yeas and 31 nays in the North Dakota Senate.

2014

2015

Introduced in the 114th Congress, is House Concurrent Resolution No. 26 by U.S. Representative Paul Gosar of Arizona ("Effectuating the Compact for a Balanced Budget").

Congressional Maintenance of Article V Applications and Rescissions

One issue of concern over the years has been official receipt by Congress of the applications, and of the rescissions, approved by state lawmakers. In some instances, the process went very smoothly with Congress—particularly the Senate—expeditiously providing readers of the Congressional Record with the full verbatim texts of such applications, or rescissions, which were then referred to committee. But in other cases, retransmitting to Congress the state legislative documents—in some instances multiple times—was necessary for those state documents to finally be entered word-for-word into the Congressional Record. South Carolina's above-mentioned H. 3400—approved in 2004—would be a prime example. It took nearly a full decade for that resolution of rescission to be entered into the Congressional Record and to be referred to the Committee on the Judiciary in both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives. Virginia's 2004 House Joint Resolution No. 194 was similarly situated.

As an out-growth of that frustration, on March 18, 2014, Senate Joint Memorial No. 104 was approved by the Idaho Legislature calling upon Congress to "...maintain a record of the Article V applications of the states in a form that is open and accessible to the people of the United States." On May 15, 2014, Idaho's S.J.M. No. 104 was designated as "POM-231"; was referred to the U.S. Senate's Committee on the Judiciary; and was published verbatim in the U.S. Senate's portion of the Congressional Record.

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