84R11949 JRJ-F
By: Peña H.J.R. No. 146
A JOINT RESOLUTION
applying to Congress to call a convention, to propose an amendment
to the United States Constitution urging the restoration of free
and fair elections.
WHEREAS, Our first president of the United States, George
Washington, declared: "The basis of our political systems is the
right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of
government" (Farewell Address, 1796); and
WHEREAS, It was the clear intention of the framers of the
Constitution of the United States that the Congress of the United
States should be "dependent on the people alone" (James Madison,
Federalist No. 52) and that dependency has evolved from a
dependency on the people alone to a dependency on those who
contribute lavishly and spend excessively in election campaigns or
via third-party groups; and
WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment to the United States
Constitution declares: "The powers not delegated to the United
States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are
reserved to the States respectively, or to the people," which,
until 2010, had consistently been interpreted as allowing the
several states to establish their own laws governing the financing
of elections; and
WHEREAS, Since 1905, with the passage of the Terrell Election
Law and continuing for the next 105 years, the Texas Legislature has
consistently exercised its legal authority to mitigate corrupting
influences in its electoral process by establishing laws governing
the financing of elections; and
WHEREAS, The United States Supreme Court removed
restrictions on independent and aggregate spending, effectively
denying the several states the ability to establish their own laws
governing the financing of elections and the removal of those
restrictions has resulted in the undue influence of powerful
economic forces, which have supplanted the will of the people by
undermining their ability to choose their political leadership and
determine the fate of their states and the nation as a whole; and
WHEREAS, Article V of the United States Constitution included
the convention method of proposing federal constitutional
amendments at the urging of the delegates to the 1787
Constitutional Convention, held in Philadelphia, so that the
several states could protect themselves, and their citizens, from
encroachments of the federal government and preserve our Republic
in the event that the federal government became unresponsive to the
will of the American people; and
WHEREAS, The nation's 34th president, Dwight D. Eisenhower,
affirmed: "Through their state legislatures and without regard to
the federal government, the people can demand a convention to
propose amendments that can and will reverse any trends they see as
fatal to true representative government."; and
WHEREAS, Article V of the United States Constitution requires
Congress to call a convention for proposing amendments to the
constitution on the application of two-thirds of the legislatures
of the several states, an assurance made abundantly clear by
Alexander Hamilton in Federalist No. 85, who noted that: "The words
of this article are peremptory. The Congress 'shall call a
convention.' Nothing in this particular is left to the discretion
of that body. And of consequence, all the declamation about the
disinclination to a change vanishes in air."; and
WHEREAS, The legislature perceives the need for an amendments
convention in order to restore free and fair elections in America by
reducing the corrupting influence of money in politics and desires
that said convention be so limited; and
WHEREAS, The 84th Texas Legislature intends that this joint
resolution be a continuing application aggregated together with
similar applications calling for a convention on this subject, such
as those approved by Vermont legislators (2014 Vermont R454, Joint
Resolution Senate No. 27, 160 Congressional Record S4331,
POM-284), by California legislators (2014 California Resolution
Chapter 77, Assembly Joint Resolution No. 1, 160 Congressional
Record S5507, POM-320) and by Illinois legislators (2014 Illinois
Senate Joint Resolution No. 42) and introduced by Montana
legislators in 2015 (House Joint Resolution No. 3), until such time
as the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states have
applied for such a convention and that convention has actually been
called by Congress; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the Texas delegates to said convention be
composed equally of individuals currently elected to state and
local office, or be selected by election, in each congressional
district in Texas, for the purpose of serving as Texas delegates,
though all individuals elected or appointed to federal office now,
or in the past, be prohibited from serving as Texas delegates to
such a convention; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the legislature intends to retain the ability
to restrict or expand the authority of its Texas delegates within
the limits herein expressed; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the 84th Texas Legislature apply to Congress
to call a convention under Article V of the United States
Constitution for the limited purpose of proposing an amendment to
the constitution to urge the restoration of free and fair
elections; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That, unless rescinded by a succeeding
legislature, this application by the 84th Texas Legislature
constitutes a continuing application in accordance with Article V
of the United States Constitution until at least two-thirds of the
legislatures of the several states have applied to Congress to call
a convention for the limited purpose of proposing an amendment to
the constitution to urge the restoration of free and fair
elections; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
the speaker of the House of Representatives and the president of the
Senate of the Congress of the United States, and to all members of
the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that this
resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as an
application to Congress for a convention under Article V of the
United States Constitution for the limited purpose of proposing an
amendment to the constitution to urge the restoration of free and
fair elections; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
copies of this resolution to the secretaries of state and to the
presiding officers of the legislatures of the several states with
the request that they join this state in applying to Congress for a
convention under Article V of the United States Constitution for
the limited purpose of proposing an amendment to the constitution
to urge the restoration of free and fair elections.