SD Rescission
HCR ___ - AS INTRODUCED
2018 SESSION
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ___
A RESOLUTION rescinding all applications by the South Dakota legislature for a federal constitutional convention and urging other states to withdraw similar requests.
SPONSORS: _____________
COMMITTEE: _____________
ANALYSIS
This concurrent resolution rescinds all requests by the South Dakota legislature for a federal constitutional convention.
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18-_____
STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA
A RESOLUTION rescinding all applications by the South Dakota legislature for a federal constitutional convention and urging other states to withdraw similar requests.
Whereas, the South Dakota legislature, acting with the best of intentions, has, at various times, and during various sessions, previously made applications to the Congress of the United States of America to call one or more conventions to propose either one or more amendments regarding one or more specific subjects or purposes, or to call a general convention to propose an unspecified and unlimited number of amendments to the United States Constitution, pursuant to the provisions of Article V thereof; and
Whereas, the Declaration of Independence proclaims that "it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish" their form of government whenever it fails to secure their rights, which implies that a convention of representatives of the sovereign people in an Article V "convention for proposing amendments" would have the inherent power to propose sweeping changes to the Constitution (also known as a "runaway" convention), any limitations or restrictions purportedly imposed by the states in applying for such a convention or conventions to the contrary notwithstanding, thereby creating an imminent peril to the well-established rights of the citizens and the duties of various levels of government as defined by our present Constitution; and
Whereas, the Constitution of the United States of America has been amended many times in the history of this nation and may be amended many more times, without the need to resort to an Article V constitutional convention, and has been interpreted for more than 200 years and has been found to be a sound document which protects the lives and liberties of the citizens; and
Whereas, there is no need for, rather, there is great danger in, subjecting our form of government, which is based on the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, to sweeping changes that would undermine its philosophical foundation of instituting government based on the principle of securing God-given rights; and
Whereas, the best solution for reining in the federal government is an informed electorate which will hold public officials accountable to our existing Constitution with its principles of limited government, rather than risking a runaway Article V convention; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:
That the South Dakota legislature does hereby rescind, repeal, cancel, nullify, and supersede to the same effect as if they had never been passed, any and all extant applications by the South Dakota legislature to the Congress of the United States of America to call a convention to propose amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America, pursuant to the terms of Article V thereof, regardless of when or by which session or sessions of the South Dakota legislature such applications were made and regardless of whether such applications were for a limited convention to propose one or more amendments regarding one or more specific subjects or purposes or for a general convention to propose an unlimited number of amendments upon an unlimited number of subjects; and
That the South Dakota legislature urges the legislatures of each and every state which has applied to Congress to call a convention for either a general or a limited constitutional convention, to repeal, and withdraw such applications; and
That the house clerk be, and is hereby authorized and directed to send copies of this resolution to the secretary of state, the presiding officers of both houses of the legislatures of each state in the Union, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker and Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the United States House of Representatives, and to the members of Congress of the United States representing the state and people of South Dakota.
