Missouri
“[T]his body respectfully makes application to the Congress of the United States for a convention to be called under Article V . . . for the specific and exclusive purpose of proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to require a balanced federal budget and to make certain exceptions with respect thereto.” – Missouri SCR 3 (1983)
Representative Application
For each of the 40 States, one representative application has been highlighted. An explanation is provided as to why this application should be aggregated toward the total calling for a convention for proposing amendments. Additional applications from the State, if any, are also included.
Missouri SCR 3 (1983) is among the eight States articulate the problem of fiscal responsibility with a phrase nearly identical to “require a balanced federal budget and to make certain exceptions with respect thereto.” There are some slight variations among this language, most notably North Carolina which replaces “and to make certain exceptions with respect thereto” with “in the absence of a national emergency.”
This resolution replaced SJ & CR 1 (1907) as the representative application from Missouri. As of 1979, there were 39 states with valid applications including Missouri’s 1907 plenary application. With the addition of Alaska in 1982 and this application in 1983, SJ & CR 1 (1907) is no longer needed and is replaced by SCR 3 at the high water mark of 40 states for a convention for proposing amendments related to fiscal responsibility in 1983.
SCR 3 (1983)
For the purpose of requesting appropriate action by the Congress, either acting by consent of two-thirds of both houses or, upon the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states, to propose an amendment to the federal constitution to require, with certain exceptions, that the federal budget be balanced.
WHEREAS, with each passing year this nation becomes more deeply in debt as its expenditures grossly and repeatedly exceed available revenues, so that the public debt now exceeds one trillion dollars; and
WHEREAS, the annual federal budget continually demonstrates an unwillingness or inability of both the legislative and executive branches of the federal government to limit the growth of federal spending and taxes and balance the budget; and
WHEREAS, unified budgets do not reflect actual spending because of the exclusion of special outlays which are not included in the budget; and
WHEREAS, knowledgeable planning, fiscal prudence and pain good sense require that the budget reflect all. federal spending and be in balance on a regular basis; and
WHEREAS, believing that fiscal irresponsibility at the federal level, with the inflation which results from this policy, is the greatest threat which faces our nation, we firmly believe that constitutional restraint is necessary to bring the fiscal discipline needed to restore financial responsibility; and
WHEREAS, the federal deficit in Fiscal Year 1982 was $110.7 billion, nearly double the deficit in Fiscal Year 1981; and
WHEREAS, the Congressional Budget Office projects a deficit for Fiscal Years 1983 and 1984 of $155 billion and $200 billion, respectively; and
WHEREAS, the United States Senate approved a proposed balance budget amendment in response to the efforts of the thirty-one state legislatures which have requested a limited convention on this subject, and its conviction about the needs for a constitutional restraint upon Congress fiscal authority; and
WHEREAS, the Reagan Administration has indicated that the budget will not be balanced by 1984; and
WHEREAS, under Article V of the Constitution of the United States, amendments to the Federal Constitution may be proposed by the Congress whenever two-thirds of both houses deem it necessary, or on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states, the Congress shall call a constitutional convention for the purpose of proposing amendments which shall be valid for all intents and purposes when ratified by three-fourths of the several states, believing such action to be vital;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Eighty-second General Assembly of the State of Missouri, the House of Representatives concurring therein, that the Missouri General Assembly proposes to the Congress of the United States that procedures be instituted in the Congress to add a new article to the Constitution of the United States, and that the Missouri General Assembly requests the Congress to prepare and submit to the several states before January 1, 1984, an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, requiring a balanced federal budget and to make certain exceptions with respect thereto; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that if, by January 1, 1984, the Congress has not proposed and submitted to the several states such an amendment, this body respectfully makes application to the Congress of the United States for a convention to be called under Article V of the Constitution of the United States for the specific and exclusive purpose of proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to require a balanced federal budget and to make certain exceptions with respect thereto; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that effective January 1, 1984, this application constitutes a continuing application in accordance with Article V of the Constitution of the United States until the legislatures of at least two-thirds of the several states have made similar applications pursuant to Article V, but if the Congress proposes an amendment to the Constitution identical in subject matter to that contained In this resolution, then this application and petition for a constitutional convention shall no longer be of any force or effect; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this application shall be deemed null and void, rescinded and of no effect in the event that such convention not be limited to such specific and exclusive purpose; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this body also proposes that the legislatures of each of the several states comprising the United States which have not yet made similar applications apply to the Congress requesting the enactment of an appropriate amendment to the federal constitution, and making application to the Congress to call a constitutional convention for the purpose of proposing such an amendment to the federal constitution; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this resolution be sent by the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives to each member of Congress representing Missouri; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives of this state be directed to send copies of this resolution to the Secretary of State and presiding officers of both Houses of the Legislature of each of the other states In the Union, the Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. and the Secretary of the United States Senate, Washington, D.C.
I, Terry L. Spieler, Secretary of the Senate, and I, Douglas Burnett, Chief Clerk of the House, do hereby certify that the aforementioned is a true and correct copy of the Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 3, adopted by the Senate on March 28, 1983, and concurred in by the House of Representatives on May 31, 1983.
Terry L. Spieler
SECRETRARY OF THE SENATE
Douglas W. Burnett
CHIEF CLERK OF THE HOUSE
[1]Note appears in original text.