Texas 2011 - 82nd Regular

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1	1	By: Ogden, Shapiro, et al. S.J.R. No. 1
2	2	(In the Senate - Filed December 2, 2010; January 31, 2011,
3	3	read first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;
4	4	February 17, 2011, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
5	5	Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 7, Nays 2;
6	6	February 17, 2011, sent to printer.)
7	7	COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.J.R. No. 1 By: Deuell
8	8
9	9
10	10	SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION
11	11	urging the Congress of the United States to propose and submit to
12	12	the states for ratification a federal balanced budget amendment to
13	13	the Constitution of the United States and, in the event that
14	14	Congress does not submit such an amendment on or before December 31,
15	15	2011, applying to Congress to call a convention to propose an
16	16	amendment to that constitution to provide, in the absence of a
17	17	national emergency and on a two-thirds vote of Congress, for a
18	18	federal balanced budget and requesting that the legislatures of
19	19	each of the several states that compose the United States apply to
20	20	Congress to call a convention to propose such an amendment.
21	21	WHEREAS, The gravity of federal debt and federal obligations
22	22	was established early in American history, with deficits occurring
23	23	only in relation to extraordinary circumstances such as war; yet
24	24	for much of the 20th century and into the 21st, the United States
25	25	has operated on a budget deficit, including the 2010 budget year,
26	26	which surpassed an astounding $1,300,000,000,000, an annual
27	27	deficit that exceeded the entire gross state product of Texas; and
28	28	WHEREAS, Congress has been unwilling or unable to address the
29	29	persistent problem of overspending and has recently increased the
30	30	statutory limit on the public debt with the passage of H.R.J.
31	31	Res. 45, 111th Congress (2010), and enacted a variety of
32	32	legislation that will ultimately cause the federal government to
33	33	incur additional debt; and
34	34	WHEREAS, The consequences of current spending policies are
35	35	far-reaching; United States indebtedness to governments of foreign
36	36	nations continues to rise; costly federal programs that are
37	37	essentially unfunded or underfunded mandates to states threaten the
38	38	ability of state and local governments to continue to balance their
39	39	budgets; moreover, future generations of Americans inevitably face
40	40	increased taxation and a weakened economy as a direct result of the
41	41	bloated debt; and
42	42	WHEREAS, Many states have previously requested that Congress
43	43	propose a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget, but
44	44	Congress has proven to be unresponsive; anticipating situations in
45	45	which Congress at times could fail to act, the drafters of the
46	46	United States Constitution had the foresight to adopt the language
47	47	in Article V that establishes that on application of the
48	48	legislatures of two-thirds of the several states, Congress shall
49	49	call a convention for proposing amendments; and
50	50	WHEREAS, In both 1977 and 1978, the Texas Legislature made
51	51	application to Congress to call a convention under Article V, and
52	52	through the years, many other states have done the same, all to no
53	53	avail; and
54	54	WHEREAS, A balanced budget amendment would require the
55	55	government not to spend more than it receives in revenue and compel
56	56	lawmakers to carefully consider choices about spending and taxes;
57	57	by encouraging spending control and discouraging deficit spending,
58	58	a balanced budget amendment will help put the nation on the path to
59	59	lasting prosperity; now, therefore, be it
60	60	RESOLVED, That the 82nd Legislature of the State of Texas
61	61	hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to
62	62	propose and submit to the states for ratification a federal
63	63	balanced budget amendment to the United States Constitution; and,
64	64	be it further
65	65	RESOLVED, That, in the event that Congress does not submit a
66	66	balanced budget amendment to the states for ratification on or
67	67	before December 31, 2011, the 82nd Texas Legislature hereby make
68	68	application to the United States Congress to call a convention
69	69	under Article V of the United States Constitution to propose an
70	70	amendment to that constitution requiring that, in the absence of a
71	71	national emergency, and as determined by the positive vote of at
72	72	least two-thirds of the members of each house of Congress, the total
73	73	of all federal appropriations made by Congress for any fiscal year
74	74	not exceed the total of all estimated federal revenue for that
75	75	fiscal year; and, be it further
76	76	RESOLVED, That, unless rescinded by a succeeding
77	77	legislature, this application by the 82nd Texas Legislature
78	78	constitutes a continuing application in accordance with Article V
79	79	of the United States Constitution until at least two-thirds of the
80	80	legislatures of the several states have made application for a
81	81	convention to provide for a balanced budget; and, be it further
82	82	RESOLVED, That, in the event that Congress does not submit a
83	83	balanced budget amendment to the states for ratification on or
84	84	before December 31, 2011, the 82nd Texas Legislature hereby request
85	85	that the legislatures of each of the several states that compose the
86	86	United States apply to Congress requesting Congress to call a
87	87	convention to propose such an amendment to the United States
88	88	Constitution; and, be it further
89	89	RESOLVED, That this application is rescinded in the event
90	90	that a convention to propose amendments to the United States
91	91	Constitution includes purposes other than providing for a balanced
92	92	federal budget; and, be it further
93	93	RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
94	94	copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
95	95	the speaker of the House of Representatives and the president of the
96	96	Senate of the United States Congress, and to all members of the
97	97	Texas delegation to Congress with the request that this resolution
98	98	be officially entered in the Congressional Record as an application
99	99	to the Congress of the United States of America for a convention to
100	100	propose an amendment to provide for a federal balanced budget in the
101	101	event that Congress does not submit such an amendment to the states
102	102	for ratification on or before December 31, 2011; and, be it further
103	103	RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
104	104	copies of this resolution to the secretaries of state and to the
105	105	presiding officers of the legislatures of the other states.
106	106	* * * * *