View source for Article V Application for a Federal Fiscal Responsibility Amendments Convention to Curb Runaway Inflation and Restore Fiscal Sanity

{{Infobox ALEC Bills
|bill_title          = Article V Application for a Federal Fiscal Responsibility Amendments Convention to Curb Runaway Inflation and Restore Fiscal Sanity
|date_introduced     = July 28, 2022
|date_reviewed       =
|date_finalized      =
|date_amended        =	
|date_accessed       =
|type                = Model Policy
|status              = Draft
|task_forces         = Tax and Fiscal Policy; Federalism and International Relations
|keywords            =
|notes               =
}}
<h1>Article V Application for a Federal Fiscal Responsibility Amendments Convention to Curb Runaway Inflation and Restore Fiscal Sanity</h1>
TO MAKE APPLICATION FOR AN INFLATION-FIGHTING, FEDERAL FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY AMENDMENTS (FRA) CONVENTION. TO NOTIFY CONGRESS THAT PURSUANT TO ARTICLE V OF THE U.S. CONSTITUTION, IT WAS MANDATED TO CALL A CONVENTION TO PROPOSE AMENDMENTS IN 1979, BASED ON THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORDS OF 39 STATE APPLICATIONS. TO AUTHORIZE THE STATES’ ATTORNEYS GENERAL TO JOIN A MANDAMUS ACTION TO ENFORCE STATE SOVEREIGNTY UNDER ARTICLE V OF THE U.S. CONSTITUTION; TO DEMAND CONGRESS EXPEDITIOUSLY PASS A RESOLUTION, SETTING THE TIME AND PLACE FOR THE AMENDMENT PROPOSING CONVENTION TRIGGERED IN 1979, AND STIPULATING RATIFICATION BY A VOTE OF THE PEOPLE IN STATE CONVENTIONS.

Whereas, Article V authorizes the States and Congress equally to propose Amendments to the United States Constitution; and

Whereas, the Constitution mandates that Congress shall call a Convention for Proposing Amendments “upon the Application of two-thirds of the several States;” and

Whereas, the Congressional Record documents 39 unrescinded State Applications from 1789–1979 related to Fiscal Responsibility, five more than the two-thirds (34) threshold by which Congress is constitutionally compelled to call the convention for proposing Fiscal Responsibility Amendments; and

Whereas, Congress failed to discharge its constitutional duty to set the date and place for a Convention for Proposing Amendments in 1979, or within a reasonable time thereafter; and

Whereas, since 1979, the national debt has increased from $850 billion to more than $30 trillion and the dollar has been devalued by more than 70%, as of the end of 2021; and

Whereas, as of May 2022 inflation is more than 8.6%, a 40-year high; and

Whereas, the constitutional mandate for Congress to call a Convention of States for proposing fiscal responsibility amendments was first triggered in 1979, as reflected in the Congressional Record.  Accordingly, any rescissions occurring after the date that the two-thirds threshold was met are of no force or effect. To hold otherwise would be to sanction broad scale defiance of constitutional mandates in the hope that future circumstances may change a triggered constitutional mandate; and

Whereas, fiscal and monetary irresponsibility at the federal level is increasing inflation, reducing economic growth, lowering Americans’ standard of living, jeopardizing Social Security and Medicare, putting national security at alarming risk, and threatening the economic stability of the several States and the prosperity of Americans for generations to come;

NOW THEREFORE, THIS STATE LEGISLATIVE CHAMBER:

SECTION    1.   Makes Application under Article V for an Inflation-fighting Federal Fiscal Responsibility Amendments Convention.

SECTION    2.   Demands Congress expeditiously  approve House Concurrent Resolution (#TBD)  to set the  date and place for an Article V Convention for Proposing Amendments based on Congressional Records of 39 Applications as of 1979 for a Fiscal Responsibility Amendments Convention.

SECTION   3. Demands that the voice of the American people be heard on this matter by requiring ratification by a vote of the people in state ratifying conventions.

SECTION    4.   Requires copies of this Application be transmitted to the President of the United States, President and Secretary of the United States Senate, the Speaker and Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, Archivist of the United States, and the members of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives from this State.

SECTION    5.   Requires copies of this Application also be transmitted to the presiding officers of each of the legislative houses in the several States, requesting their cooperation in this endeavor.

SECTION    6.   Urges the Archivist of the United States to authenticate, securely store, count and acknowledge this Application and make public a list of Applications by subject. This Application shall be counted with balanced budget Applications, plenary Applications on any subject(s) or any multi-subject Applications that, in part, impose fiscal restraints on the federal government. Article V Applications remain active until Congress calls for a Convention for Proposing Federal Fiscal Responsibility Amendments.

SECTION    7.   Urges The Attorney General of this State to assert and defend the constitutional power and responsibility of the State to restore and maintain the jurisdictional balance of powers between the national government and the States, and specifically to restore and maintain national fiscal responsibility, by enforcing the States’ rights and duties under Article V of the Constitution of the United States, by compelling Congress, through all legal and constitutional means at the disposal of the Attorney General, to honor its constitutional duty to maintain a timely and accurate record of all State applications under Article V, and to timely execute its ministerial duty to designate the date and place for a Convention for Proposing Amendments any time the two-thirds (34) constitutional threshold is reached for summoning a convention of states for proposing amendments.