BILL NUMBER: ACR 1INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Blakeslee DECEMBER 1, 2008 Relative to calling a convention for the revision of the California Constitution. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST ACR 1, as introduced, Blakeslee. Constitutional Convention. This measure would propose that the people of the State of California vote at the next statewide general election on the question of whether to call a convention to revise the California Constitution. Fiscal committee: yes. WHEREAS, The California Constitution authorizes the Legislature to submit at a general election the question of whether to call a convention to revise the California Constitution; and WHEREAS, It is the intent of the Legislature that the delegates to the Constitutional Convention revise the Constitution to institute election and campaign reforms, tax reforms, and budget reforms; and WHEREAS, Election, campaign, and budget reforms are required to make the Legislature more responsive to the people of this state by increasing competitive choice in electing Members of the Legislature while decreasing partisan control over the selection of candidates, by allowing Members of the Legislature to gain more experience by lengthening potential terms of service while preserving the spirit of term limits, and by decreasing the influence of special interests through strengthening controls that limit personal benefits to Members of the Legislature from campaign and noncampaign gifts and contributions; and WHEREAS, Tax reform for sales, corporate, and income taxes is required to reduce the sharp increases and decreases in revenue that change with California's gross domestic product. California needs to adopt a tax system that is reasonably revenue neutral, in the aggregate for each taxpayer relative to the current tax code over a prior 10-year period, and establish reforms that provide an incentive for new business activity in the state resulting in increased future state revenues due to stronger economic activity; and WHEREAS, Budget reform is required to avoid financial hardships to the people of this state by revising the legislative and budget calendars to promote a timely budget and limit the Legislature's ability to work on nonbudget legislation if a budget is delayed, and by establishing automatic payments for critical services, in an amount no greater than the prior year's funding level, except for adjustments based on a change in population and the cost of living, when there are budget delays; and WHEREAS, Budget reform is needed to curb spending by requiring that new fees or fee increases in excess of the percentage increase of population and the cost of living are treated as taxes that must be passed by two-thirds of the Members of the Legislature; and WHEREAS, It is the intent of the Legislature that the delegates focus on these reforms and limit the scope of the constitutional revisions to the most pressing needs of the state; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature of the State of California at its 2009-10 Regular Session commencing on the first day of December 2008, two-thirds of the membership of each house concurring, hereby proposes that the people of the State of California vote at the next statewide general election on the question of whether to call a convention to revise the California Constitution, subject to all of the following: (a) Pursuant to Section 2 of Article XVIII of the California Constitution, the question of whether to call a convention to revise the California Constitution shall be submitted to the voters at the next statewide general election, and if the majority vote yes on that question, within six months the Legislature shall provide for the convention; (b) The Secretary of State shall submit the question of whether to call a convention to revise the California Constitution to the voters in the manner in which the Secretary of State would submit any other proposition by the Legislature that is submitted to a popular vote at a statewide general election; (c) There shall be 56 delegates to the constitutional convention and those delegates shall be voters of this state. Fourteen delegates each shall be elected from four districts as nearly equal in population as may be practicable; (d) The procedure used to elect delegates to the convention and the rules of procedure regarding the conduct of the convention shall be prescribed by a statute to be enacted; (e) The elected delegates shall meet in convention in the Assembly Chamber at the State Capitol Building in the City of Sacramento; and be it further Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the Secretary of State, the Legislative Analyst, the Attorney General, and to the author for appropriate distribution.