Bill of States Convention clarifies South Carolina Subcommittee

For the second year in a row, a bill that would require an Article V convention – or “state convention” – is being passed by the South Carolina House of Representatives. This year’s legislation – H. 3205 – has been passed by a subcommittee. House’s judiciary on Thursday and is now on track for approval by the entire judiciary committee.

Last year’s state convention bill was approved by the entire judiciary committee and rose to the plenary of the Chamber of Deputies. It did not get a vote, however, as the legislature was effectively closed during the coronavirus pandemic.

Most observers believe the bill has enough support to pass the Republican-controlled chamber this year – as evidenced by the fact that it currently has 53 sponsors (including the powerful mayor). Jay Lucas)

Like last year’s bill, current Article V legislation would make a request to the US Congress on behalf of the SC General Assembly to “convene a state amendment convention under Article V” of the US Constitution.

Such a convention would be “limited to proposing amendments to the United States Constitution, imposing fiscal restrictions on the federal government, limiting the federal government’s power and jurisdiction, and limiting the mandates of its officials and members of Congress.”

As our founding editor Will Folks reported earlier, the specific formulation of this legislation is very important. Supporters of the state convention fear that their national candidacy will be rejected unless a sufficient number of states submit resolutions drafted in the same way as Washington, DC. In addition, there are competing Article V bills to be contested, as other state convention efforts in South Carolina have been directed toward adopting a balanced budget amendment.

This year, however, Republican lawmakers appear to be meeting exclusively around H. 3205. In fact, the bill was recently included as part of a conservative “backsliding agenda” led by the state deputy. Bill Taylor from Aiken, SC

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(Via: Provided)

According to Taylor, the bill “is the legal way to control the federal government” or, as he called it, “the necessary rebellion without bullets”.

At the time of writing, fifteen states have passed Article V legislation in “approved” language. Another eight states saw bills containing this language pass at least one chamber of their respective legislatures. Finally, the “approved” Article V legislation was introduced in fifteen other states – including South Carolina.

For those of you who fell asleep during your civic education class, Article V is the section of the United States Constitution that deals with the amendment of our nation’s founding document. An “Article V Convention” is one of two methods by which amendments to the Constitution can be proposed – with such a convention being called in the event that “two-thirds of the various states” make a request to Congress.

The other method for proposing amendments is a two-thirds vote in the US House and Senate.

Since the ratification of the Constitution, thirty-three amendments have been approved by Congress and sent to the states – of which twenty-seven have already been ratified. Only one amendment – the eighteenth (which prohibited the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages) – has been repealed.

All of these amendments were proposed by a two-thirds vote in the United States Congress. At the time of writing, there has never been a state convention.

A key point to remember? If an amendment is proposed by Congress or a state convention – it must be approved by three quarters of all states before it takes effect.

However, not everyone in the state of Palmetto agrees with the idea of ​​the state convention. Opponents of the far right of an Article V convention argue that calls to convene such a meeting are part of a vast globalist conspiracy. Meanwhile, more “centrist” politicians – including the SC governor Henry McMaster – claimed that the conventions could be used to restrict Second Amendment rights across the country.

“My concern is that there may be unintended consequences,” said McMaster.

Seriously? As noted above, three quarters of all states must approve any constitutional change … time course. This means that the proposed reforms must have broad bipartisan support in the red and blue states to navigate this process.

Does anyone really believe that three quarters of the state legislatures in the United States will agree with the liberal use of weapons?

Doubtful …

Obviously, we will keep an eye on this legislation as it continues to move forward in the legislative process – including coverage of its next hearing before the entire judiciary committee.

-FITSNews

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