CALL FOR A U.S. CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT

TO IMPOSE TERM LIMITS ON U.S. CONGRESS

House Joint Resolution TT

Sponsor:  Rep. Tom Barrett

Committee:  Elections

Complete to 11-8-16

SUMMARY:

If passed by the Michigan House of Representatives and Senate, House Joint Resolution TT would be a joint resolution applying to the Congress of the United States to call an Article V convention in order to amend the U.S. Constitution to impose term limits on members of the U.S. Congress.

[Under Article V of the U.S. Constitution, Congress must call a convention to propose amendments to the Constitution if required by two-thirds majority of both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives, or upon the application of two-thirds of the state legislatures.  Any proposed amendment then must be ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the states or at conventions in three-fourths of the states.]

This resolution would request, on behalf of Michigan, that Congress call a convention limited to proposing an amendment which would set a limit on the number of terms to which a person may be elected as a member of the U.S. House or Senate. 

The resolution directs the Michigan Secretary of State to transmit copies of the application to the following individuals:

·         The president and secretary of the U.S. Senate (the president of the Senate is the Vice President of the U.S.);

·         The speaker of the house, clerk, and judiciary committee chairperson of the U.S. House of Representatives;

·         The U.S. representatives and senators representing the state of Michigan; and

·         The presiding officers of each of the legislative houses in each of the 50 states.

The resolution provides that it is to be considered as covering the same subject matter as the applications from other states to Congress for an Article V convention on term limits, and is to be aggregated with those applications for the purposes of attaining the two-thirds of states necessary to require Congress to call a limited convention on this topic, but not with applications on any other topic.

Finally, the resolution provides that it represents a continuing application until the legislatures of at least two-thirds of states (34 states) have made applications for an Article V convention on term limits.

FISCAL IMPACT:

The bill does not appear to have a direct fiscal impact on the state.

                                                                                        Legislative Analyst:   Jenny McInerney    

■ This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency staff for use by House members in their deliberations, and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.