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33.1

Constitutional Amendments by States

Summary:

A majority of State legislatures shall have the right to submit amendments to the Constitution to the States for ratification by three-fourths of the States.

Constitutional Amendments by States: Proposed Language

Whenever a majority of the legislatures of the several States propose amendments to this Constitution, they shall file the same with Congress, which shall within four months return the proposed amendments to the legislatures of the several States with such advice as it deems appropriate and, upon such return or upon the failure of Congress to timely make such return, the proposed amendments with Congress’s return, if any, shall be submitted to the legislatures of the several States and, when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States, the proposed amendments shall be valid to all intents and purposes according to the provisions thereof.

Commentary:

Article V of the Constitution provides for two methods of changing the Constitution. The first method permits Congress to recommend changes to the States, which can then ratify those changes by a three fourths majority vote of the States. The other method, relied upon by Campaign Constitution, is to permit two thirds of the States to seek a Constitutional Convention to make changes to the Constitution. When two thirds of the States agree, Congress must order a Constitutional Convention. Following the Constitutional Convention, Congress can refer the proposed changes to either the States for ratification by three fourths thereof or for ratification by constitutional conventions in each of the States for ratification by three fourths of such conventions.

The latter method is cumbersome. It has never been used before. It may be the only way we, the People, can take our country back and make the changes necessary to put our country on a solid footing. It would be appropriate to give the People a better, more efficient way of making changes to the Constitution other than those recommended by Congress.

For the above reasons, we propose this Amendment to allow the legislatures of the several States to propose amendments to the Constitution in the same fashion as Congress and, upon such proposals, such Amendments will be referred to the States for ratification by three fourths of the States. When the Constitution was originally signed, such a procedure would have been impossible because of the methods of communication. However, with today’s electronic systems of communication, this is a reasonable, viable and feasible approach and gives the States a dignity equal to Congress when it comes to amending the Constitution.

This method is also facilitated by the establishment of a Board of Governors as set forth in proposed Amendment 35.4 which will allow the States to work together to coordinate those actions which they collectively, based upon the actions of their several legislatures, believe to be in the best interest of America.

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