On Thursday, March 30 the Arizona legislature passed HCR 2022 which formally calls for a convention of states to plan for an Article V convention to propose a balanced budget amendment to the US Constitution. The convention will be held in Phoenix, convening on Tuesday, September 12, 2017.

 

"The purpose of the Arizona convention is to 'plan for, and recommend rules of procedure for, the prospective convention for proposing a balanced budget amendment to the United Stated Constitution'," stated William H. Fruth, national co-founder of the Balanced Budget Amendment Task Force (BBATF). The BBATF is the national organization coordinating the effort to cause a BBA amendment convention to convene.

 

Arizona House Speaker J.D. Mesnard sponsored the legislation calling for the planning convention.

 

"Arizona is at the forefront of efforts urging states to flex their muscles by exercising their constitutionally-prescribed powers to push back against the federal government. I look forward to talking with our counterparts in other states to begin work organizing an Article V amendments convention that will finally put our national government on a more solvent fiscal path," said Speaker Mesnard.

 

The Arizona BBA Planning Convention will be the first formal, national convention of the sovereign states to be held since the Washington Peace Conference in 1861 according to research conducted by Professor Robert Natelson of Colorado's Independence Institute.

 

Article V of the Constitution provides that upon the application of two-thirds (34) of the states, Congress shall call a convention for proposing amendments.

 

According to the BBATF, presently 29 states have approved resolutions for a convention limited to proposing a balanced budget amendment.

 

"It appears it is likely the necessary 34 states will approve resolutions for a balanced budget amendment convention to be called," continued Fruth. "Since an amendment convention has never been held, it is both prudent and necessary the states make formal preparations so the amendment convention is orderly and deliberative."

 

In order to amend the Constitution, an amendment must first be proposed. All of the 27 amendments to the Constitution were proposed by Congress, which is the first method set forth in Article V for proposing amendments. The second option provided in Article V reads, "or, on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, (Congress) shall call a convention for proposingamendments ..."

 

After an amendment is proposed, it must be ratified by three-fourths of the states.

 

The second option in Article V, the convention of the states, has never been utilized. As a result, some critics have expressed concern about the rules and procedures for an Article V convention, and how the convention will be limited to a single topic. This is one of the reasons the Arizona BBA Planning Convention is being called according to Speaker Mesnard.

 

"The Arizona BBA Planning Convention is a 'convention of the states' but not a convention to propose a balanced budget amendment," commented David Guldenschuh, a constitutional attorney and advisor to the Heartland Institute. "It is not being called under any provision of the Constitution. It is a formal, national convention of the states being called in the traditional manner established over our 300 year history beginning with colonial American stretching through the 1920's."

 

"It is anticipated all 50 states will send a delegation to Phoenix to discuss and deliberate the import issue of creating procedural rules for an amendment convention," concluded Loren Enns, a BBATF Co-Founder who helped with the passage of the Arizona resolution.