Offered today:

FIRST REGULAR SESSION

House Concurrent Resolution No. 23

97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES FITZPATRICK (Sponsor), CURTMAN, BRATTIN, JUSTUS, BAHR, SPENCER, SOMMER, WILSON, FRAKER, HICKS AND REMOLE (Co-sponsors).

1565H.01I

           WHEREAS, the Missouri General Assembly, acting with the best of intentions, applied to the Congress of the United States by resolution in accordance with Article V, Constitution of the United States, for a constitutional convention for the purpose of amending the Constitution of the United States and

           WHEREAS, Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 3, was passed by the Eighty-second General Assembly of the State of Missouri in 1983 specifically proposing a constitutional convention for the sole purpose of adopting an amendment requiring a balanced federal budget; and

           WHEREAS, over the course of time, the will of the people of the State of Missouri has changed with regards to Missouri’s previous call for a constitutional convention to amend the Constitution of the United States; and

           WHEREAS, certain persons or states have called for a constitutional convention on issues that may be directly in opposition to the will of the people of this state; and

           WHEREAS, the people of this state do not want their previous applications for a constitutional convention to be aggregated with those calls for a convention from other states; and

           WHEREAS, former Justice of the United States Supreme Court Warren E. Burger, former Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court Arthur J. Goldberg and many other leading constitutional scholars are in general agreement that a convention, notwithstanding whatever limitation might be placed on it by the call for a convention, may propose sweeping constitutional changes or, by virtue of the authority of a constitutional convention, redraft the Constitution of the United States creating an imminent peril to the well established rights of citizens and to the duties of various levels of government; and

           WHEREAS, the Constitution of the United States has been amended many times in the history of this nation and may be amended many more times without the need to resort to a constitutional convention, and has been interpreted for more than two hundred years and found to be a sound document that protects the lives and liberties of citizens; and

           WHEREAS, there is no need for, and in fact there is great danger in, a new constitution or in opening the Constitution of the United States to radical changes, the adoption of which could create legal chaos in this nation and begin the process of another two centuries of litigation over its meaning and interpretation; and

           WHEREAS, changes or amendments that may be needed in the present Constitution of the United States may be proposed and enacted without resorting to a constitutional convention by using the process provided in the Constitution and previously used throughout the history of this nation:

           NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the members of the House of Representatives of the Ninety-seventh General Assembly, First Regular Session, the Senate concurring therein, that the Missouri General Assembly hereby repeals, rescinds, cancels, renders null and void, and supersedes any and all existing applications to the Congress of the United States for a constitutional convention under Article V of the Constitution of the United States for any purpose, whether limited or general; and

           BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Missouri General Assembly urges the legislature of each and every state that has applied to Congress for either a general or limited constitutional convention to repeal and rescind their applications; and

           BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Chief Clerk of the Missouri House of Representatives be instructed to prepare a properly inscribed copy of this resolution for the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Administrator of General Services in Washington, D.C., each member of Missouri’s Congressional delegation, and the Secretaries of State and presiding officers of both houses of the legislatures of each state in the Union.

[emphasis in original]

Yeah, they probably figured that a constitutional convention could make that originalist muzzle loader too explicit for their taste.