ARIZONA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Fifty-sixth Legislature

First Regular Session

House: GOV DP 8-1-0-0

HCR 2016: article V convention; term limits

Sponsor: Representative Cook, LD 7

House Engrossed

Overview

States Arizona formally applies for an Article V Convention on congressional term limits.

History

Article V of the U.S. Constitution sets procedures for amending the Constitution. Article V establishes two methods for proposing amendments to the Constitution:

1) the first method requires both the House and Senate to propose a constitutional amendment by a vote of two-thirds of the members present; and

2) alternatively, Article V provides that Congress will call a convention for proposing amendments upon the request of two-thirds of the state legislatures (U.S. Const. art. V).

Since 1960, the states have submitted more than 180 applications for Article V conventions on various subjects. However, Congress has never deemed Article V’s threshold for calling a convention to be met (Clerk U.S. House of Representatives).

Currently, five states have passed applications solely specific to congressional term limits:

1) Alabama;

2) Florida;

3) Missouri;

4) West Virginia; and

5) Wisconsin (Clerk U.S. House of Representatives).

Fourteen states have passed congressional term limits specific language as part of a multi-subject application (Clerk U.S. House of Representatives).

Provisions

1. Sends an application to call for a limited convention to propose a constitutional amendment to limit the number of terms a person may be elected to the U.S. Congress.

2. Directs the Secretary of State to transmit this resolution to:

a) the President of the U.S. Senate;

b) the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives;

c) the Secretary of the U.S. Senate;

d) the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives Senate;

e) the Chairperson of the House Committee on Judiciary;

f) each member of Congress from the State of Arizona; and

g) the presiding officer of each legislative house in each state.

3. States this application be considered as covering the same subject matter as the applications from other states regarding congressional term limits.

4. States this application be aggregated with the applications of other states for the purpose of calling a limited convention on congressional term limits.

5. States this application may not be aggregated with applications of different subjects.

6. Stipulates that the resolution constitutes as a continuing application until the legislatures of at least two-thirds of the states have been submitted.

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10. HCR 2016

11. Initials FK/JB Page 0 House Engrossed

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