North Dakota
“A concurrent resolution of the North Dakota Legislature calling for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution proposing to the several states the requirement of a balanced U.S. cash budget for each session of Congress except in time of war or national emergency . . . . That we respectfully propose an amendment to the Constitution of the United States and call upon the people of the several states for a convention[.]” – North Dakota SCR 4018 (1975)
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.
North Dakota SCR 4018 (1975) is among three states whose applications include specifically worded amendment language without specifying that they are to be counted together with substantially similar applications. In the absence of this language, scholars disagree as to whether the specifically worded language should be read as an example to better articulate the problem or a restriction. None of these three are necessary to reach the threshold of two-thirds of the states. The declaratory judgment action can succeed without them. However, there is a good case to be made for counting each of them. Most (though not all) scholars believe a convention is invalid if it has no power to deliberate at all. Hence, an alternate reasonable reading of the intent should be favored where it exists. Here, it is reasonable to conclude that when North Dakota says it “proposed the following article,” it did so knowing that it cannot propose an amendment in the formal Constitutional sense and is using the term in its ordinary meaning, “to put forward for consideration or discussion by others.” The explicit text is merely the text of their proposal, not a requirement that the formal proposal made by the Convention be worded the same way. In terms of a statement of the problem, the title of this resolution is “A concurrent resolution of the North Dakota Legislature calling for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution proposing to the several states the requirements of a balanced U.S. cash budget for each session of Congress except in time of war or national emergency.” And the text of the proposal includes that “Expenditures for each two-year period shall not exceed the estimated revenue except in time of war or a national emergency declared by the Congress.” These phrases are similar to those used by other States.
SCR 4018 (1975)
BALANCED FEDERAL BUDGET AMENDMENT
A concurrent resolution of the North Dakota Legislature calling for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution proposing to the several states the requirements of a balanced U.S. cash budget for each session of Congress except in time of war or national emergency.
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING THEREIN:
That we respectfully propose an amendment to the Constitution of the United States and call upon the people of the several states for a convention for such purpose as provided by Article V of the Constitution, the proposed Article providing as follows:
ARTICLE___
SECTION 1. The president shall submit, at the beginning of each new Congress, an annual budget for the ensuing fiscal year setting forth in detail the total proposed expenditures and the total estimated revenue of the Federal Government from sources other than borrowing. The president may set new revenue estimates from time to time. Expenditures for each two-year period shall not exceed the estimated revenue except in time of war or a national emergency declared by the Congress. The provisions of this Article shall not apply to the refinancing of the national debt; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that copies of this resolution be forwarded by the Secretary of State to the legislature of the several states.
Filed March 11, 1975