The calendar has come out for the House Committee on Judiciary Subcommittee B, and on the docket is House Joint Resolution 374, Rescind Constitutional Convention Calls. This is a serious mistake and legislators need to be aware of their message by rescinding Article V Convention Calls. How interesting is it that just a few months ago the House filed House Joint Resolution 126 to send an additional request to Congress for an Article V Convention requesting a federal balanced budget. Both of these bill have bi-partisan support, yet one has been calendared in committee and the other not.
On the other side, the House Committee on Government has calendared House Bill 274, Taxpayer Bill of Rights. This bill would take the NC Constitution a step further in their balanced budget methods and set a cap on General Fund growth limited to population and inflation factors. This bill plainly supports a balanced budget at the state level, thus leading one to believe supporting the idea our federal government should also have a balanced budget.
So what does this all mean? If the House passes a bill to rescind all the former constitutional convention calls – they will be sending a message that they don’t support a federally balanced budget. If their intent is to rescind the unnecessary Article V convention calls (such as the calls to elect a US Senator by the people instead of by the states) then they need to support a bill to rescind each convention call individually, not group them together as this bill has done.
A little background on the issue…..In the US Constitution, Article V describes a way for the states to alter the Constitution. If the legislatures of two-thirds (34 out of 50) of states request Congress for a constitutional amendment, then Congress must call a convention for the proposing amendments. This was met in the early 20th Century when states called for the direct election of US Senators. A convention was not held, but the pressure from the states caused Congress to pass the 17th amendment. Article V does not specify a time limit on when the states must petition for an amendment to call a convention, thus the first balanced budget amendment filed in 1955 by Oklahoma still counts today towards the two-thirds.
North Carolina proposed its balanced budget requirement in 1979 when a nearly successful attempt to call a convention almost occurred. During the late 1970s and 1980s America saw a growing federal deficit that caused states to react. By 1983 the federal deficit was higher than any deficit America had ever seen, excluding the 1943-45 wartime debt. Between 1975 and 1980 thirty states sent requests calling for a convention, in 1982 two additional states sent requests making the total only two states short of the needed thirty-four.
Today many states are sending their requests for a federally balanced budget yet again. If North Carolina does not support an additional call to Congress, they need to let the request in 1979 stand and leave the issue alone.
