By Vivian Garcia
Convention of States Action began in 2013. The movement has one foundation: Article V in the the U.S. Constitution. Article V is short and specifically deals with how the United States is allowed to amend our Constitution.
It’s not a familiar subject in the 21st century because there hasn’t been a Constitutional Amendment ratified in America since in 1992 when the 27th Amendment, which addresses Congressional compensation, was ratified.
Many Americans, especially older generations, are familiar with the Bill of Rights and have a more general understanding of Amendments 11-27. Unfortunately, we all have suffered the consequences of Supreme Court interpretation which has transformed a pocket-sized Constitution into a 3000-page book that requires a Constitutional lawyer to interpret historical rulings.
All 27 Amendments were originally proposals that were written by U.S. Congress. The proposal does not become law until it goes to all 50 states for ratification. The State Legislators, both House and Senate must ratify the amendment proposal in both chambers OR the state chooses to hold a State Convention (a different convention- not a Convention of States) where state delegates vote to pass the proposal in their state.
A proposal requires three-fourths of the States, or 38 states to ratify a proposal, making it a legal Constitutional Amendment.
This is not the totality of Article V. There is a second way within Article V to propose amendments. This second process (in bold) is what Convention of States is formed upon:
Article V:
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.
Convention of States Action has done the grassroots, on-location work and Convention of States Foundation has educated American citizens about the Article V Convention process.
The COS Resolution intents to propose amendments bound by three objectives:
- Impose fiscal restraints on the federal government.
- Limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government.
- Limit the terms of office for its officials.
All proposals in an Article V Convention MUST fall within the boundaries of these objectives. Term limits on U.S. Congress, a balanced budget and putting limits on the hundreds of federal agencies, (if not eliminate agencies) that fail to uphold the liberties of U.S. Citizens have potential to be proposed at a Convention. You can research more about potential proposals at www.conventionofstates.com.
So, how do our objectives get to an Article V Convention? There’s three steps in the process that I like to call The Resolution, The Round Table and The Ratification.
The Resolution
The first step is what Convention of States Action has been doing for the last ten years. The Constitution requires that in order for a Convention to be called, two-thirds of the States, or 34 states must past our resolution, the exact same resolution through both the State House and Senate in 34 states.
Are you thinking, okay, this is already too hard? Grassroots citizens all over the nation have already passed the COS Resolution in 19 states over the last ten years!
Here are the 19 States that have passed the COS Resolution:
2014: Georgia, Alaska, Florida
2015: Alabama
2016: Tennessee, Indiana, Oklahoma, Louisiana
2017: Arizona, North Dakota, Texas, Missouri
2019: Arkansas, Utah, Mississippi
2022: Wisconsin, Nebraska, West Virginia, South Carolina
2023: Kansas passed majorities in both chambers, but the State has a law that requires a super majority of 60% to pass. This vote will be challenged, ultimately, because the majority vote meets the Article V requirement.
In 2024, North Carolina has passed the Resolution on the floor of the State House of Representatives. There is a lot of momentum and the grassroots in the state are doing the work to keep the momentum going to get it passed in the State Senate.
However long it takes, once COS Action gets to the 34th state passing our COS Resolution bound by our three objectives, U.S. Congress is mandated to call the Convention of States. Each state sends delegates to the Convention. They can decide how many delegates to represent their state but each state only gets one vote.
The actual Convention is the second step which I call The Round Table. This is where all 50 states debate, vote on and pass or reject amendment proposals. This process can take weeks or months. In order to get a proposal passed through Convention, it requires a simple majority (26 states). If it passes, it only means that the proposal has passed Convention.
Whatever number of proposals pass Convention must now go through the most rigorous process, which is the third and final step called The Ratification. This is the same vetting that all passed proposals go through. Each proposal must go back to the State Legislatures and must be passed in both chambers in 38 states. This means it only takes 13 states to bring down a proposal.
This ensures that each proposal passed through Convention must be simple, straight to the point and secures the rights of U.S. Citizens. Each must fall within our three objectives in our original resolution application passed in 34 states.
This process is difficult for a good reason. It should never be easy to amend our Constitution. It requires citizens to act, to get involved, it requires the States to unite, it requires our nation to be in one accord and agree in the most simple terms about securing our liberties and keeping powers separate in government so no single entity has absolute power over The People.
If government overreach becomes frightening enough, it can embolden Americans to act in the most patriotic way. Not only acting on our own behalf but also for the sake of our posterity: our children and grandchildren.
If you want more information, search “resources” at the Convention of States website (www.conventionofstates.com), watch some videos at COS University (www.cosuniversity.com), and select Take Action in the menu of www.conventionofstates.com and volunteer.
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