Senate Concurrent Resolution 523

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION APPLYING FOR A UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION ARTICLE V AMENDMENTS CONVENTION SPECIFICALLY RELATING TO A FEDERAL BALANCED BUDGET REQUIREMENT.

WHEREAS, Article V of the Constitution of the United States provides authority for a Convention to be called by the Congress of the United States for the purpose of proposing amendments to the Constitution upon application of two-thirds of the Legislatures of the several states ("Madison Amendments Convention"); and

WHEREAS, the Legislature of the State of Mississippi favors the proposal and ratification of an amendment to said Constitution which shall provide that an increase in the federal debt requires approval from a majority of the Legislatures of the separate states; NOW, THEREFORE,

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING THEREIN:

SECTION 1. That, as provided for in Article V of the Constitution of the United States, the Legislature of the State of Mississippi herewith hereby applies to Congress, under the provision of Article V of the Constitution of the United States, for the calling of a Convention of the States limited to proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States requiring that in the absence of a national emergency the total of all federal outlays made by the Congress for any fiscal year may not exceed the total of all estimated federal revenues for that fiscal year, together with any related and appropriate fiscal restraints.

SECTION 2. This application is to be considered as covering the balanced budget amendment language of the presently outstanding balanced budget applications from other states, including, but not limited to, previously adopted applications from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia; and this application shall be aggregated with same for the purpose of attaining the two-thirds (2/3) of states necessary to require the calling of a Convention for proposing a balanced budget amendment, but shall not be aggregated with any applications on any other subject.

SECTION 3. That the Amendments Convention contemplated by this application shall be entirely focused upon and exclusively limited to the subject matter of proposing for ratification an amendment to the Constitution providing that an increase in the federal debt requires approval from a majority of the Legislatures of the separate states.

SECTION 4. This application constitutes a continuing application in accordance with Article V of the Constitution of the United States until at least two-thirds (2/3) of the Legislatures of the several states have made application for an equivalently limited Amendments Convention.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a certified copy of this application be transmitted by the Secretary of State, to the President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, to each member of the applicant's delegation to the United States Congress, and to the presiding officers of each house of the several state Legislatures, requesting their cooperation in applying for the Amendments Convention limited to the subject matter contemplated by this application.