for proposing amendments
G eorgia's General Assembly, having been first to apply for the latter one, represents the state legislatures in this tale. First Convention of the States In 2020, it and other legislatures that support "a convention limited to proposing amendments that impose fiscal restraints on the government of the United States, limit the power and jurisdiction of the government of the United States, and limit the terms of office for its officials and for members of Congress," launched a separate application for one to be held before it. The first convention would be aimed at preventing Congress from assuming any novel power to insert itself anywhere in that process beyond calling such a convention. On Tuesday, March 24, Georgia's General Assembly signed on to that application. ADOPTED A RESOLUTION Applying for a convention of the States under Article V of the United States Constitution; and for other purposes. WHEREAS, State Legislatures may apply to Congress, under the provisions of Article V of the Constitution of the United States, for the calling of a convention for proposing amendments to the Constitution; and WHEREAS, when two-thirds of the State Legislatures concur in such application, it is out of the power of Congress to decline complying with the express and positive words of the Constitution relative to the agency Congress may have in case of applications of this nature, with Congress having no deliberative power on this occasion or other power to procrastinate the measure applied for; and WHEREAS, once the Congress has so complied in calling a convention for proposing amendments, it has performed to completion all its relevant constitutional duties, at which point the delegated powers of the United States in this matter end, and all powers to make needful provisions respecting that convention, none of which the Constitution prohibits to the States, are, under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, reserved to the States respectively, or to the people; and WHEREAS, the States themselves possess the natural competency to make all the necessary and proper arrangements for such a convention and its accommodation, organizing it in such form as to them will seem most likely to effect the safety and happiness of our people; and WHEREAS, a convention for proposing amendments arises from the solemn duty of the States to protect the liberty of our people, particularly for the generations to come, and in and of itself evinces a most pronounced and urgent need to promote and safeguard the consent of the governed against any Congress, president, or court that appears indifferent or hostile to that consent; and WHEREAS, none of the delegated powers of the United States extend to deciding for the State Legislatures, before the Congress calls a convention for proposing amendments, how long any of their own applications to Congress should remain in effect, or that, once made, they have no power at all to alter or to abolish its effect, or extend to abuses and usurpations of the powers of ratification reserved to the States respectively when amendments to the Constitution have been proposed to them, by unilaterally declaring those powers forever destroyed in the wake of whatever amendment their own Legislatures or Conventions should choose to ratify, arbitrarily asserting in the most absolute and oppressive terms that, while repealing or rendering inoperative any amendment, once it becomes valid as part of the Constitution, is permitted, rescinding or making void any ratification of it beforehand is not, or by unilaterally prescribing or attempting to so prescribe the times, places and manner of holding their own Conventions. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA that the General Assembly of the State of Georgia hereby applies to Congress, under the provisions 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 United States Constitution that reserves to Legislatures of the several States all powers to organize and accommodate conventions under Article V, prescribes the manner and effect of rescinding applications and ratifications thereunder, and sets the time within which that amendment or currently pending ones may be operatively ratified. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this application shall be deemed an application for a convention to address each or all of the subjects herein stated. For the purposes of determining whether two-thirds of the States have applied for a convention addressing any of the subjects stated herein, this application is to be aggregated with the applications of any other State Legislatures for the single subjects of reserving to Legislatures of the several States powers to organize or accommodate conventions under Article V, prescribing the manner or effect of rescinding applications or ratifications thereunder, or setting the time within which that amendment or currently pending ones may be operatively ratified. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of the Senate is hereby directed to transmit copies of this application to the President and Secretary of the United States Senate and to the Speaker and Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, to transmit copies to the members of the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives from this State, and to transmit copies hereof to the presiding officers of each of the legislative houses in the several States, requesting their cooperation. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that 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 applications on the same subject. On Wednesday, January 6, 2021, the 34th legislature applying for this convention transmitted a substantively identical resolution to Congress. On Monday, January 11, Congress called a convention for proposing the amendment described in their application. One hundred seventeenth Congress of the United States of America AT THE FIRST SESSION Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday, the fourth day of January, two thousand and twenty-one Joint Resolution Calling a convention limited to proposing an amendment to the Constitution that reserves to legislatures of the several States all powers to organize and accommodate conventions under the fifth article of the Constitution, prescribes the manner and effect of rescinding applications and ratifications thereunder, and sets the time within which that amendment or currently pending ones may be operatively ratified. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several States), That the Congress hereby calls a Convention for proposing amendments to the Constitution of the United States, limited according to the said application to proposing an amendment that reserves to legislatures of the several States all powers to organize and accommodate conventions under the fifth article of the Constitution, prescribes the manner and effect of rescinding applications and ratifications thereunder, and sets the time within which that amendment or currently pending ones may be operatively ratified, which amendment shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by conventions in three-fourths of the several States. Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate. It then fell to the states to organize and accommodate the convention. Between themselves they discussed when, where and how to hold it and who would attend. The consensus was keep it simple. Thus they decided all votes in the convention should be taken by states, as was done in the original Constitutional Convention and is done when the U.S. House of Representatives has to choose our president. Also, each state should send a delegation of between one to five persons who are not affiliated with the federal government. Under the model provisions they finally formulated, the convention's first meeting would be held at the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City, the closest state capital to our country's mean center of population, on the 120th day, not counting Sundays, after all of the first 34 legislatures that applied for this convention had assented to those provisions. On Wednesday, February 17, Georgia's General Assembly gave its assent to the model provisions. ADOPTED A RESOLUTION Assenting to provisions that prescribe the times, places and manner of holding a Convention for proposing amendments to the Constitution of the United States; and for other purposes. RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA that the General Assembly of the State of Georgia hereby assents to the following provisions prescribed by Legislatures of two-thirds of the several States to organize and accommodate the Convention described therein, which shall be, for purposes of that Convention, supplemental to the provisions of Code Section 28-6-8: "The Legislatures of two-thirds of the several States on whose application the Congress, pursuant to the fifth article of the Constitution of the United States, and by joint resolution dated Monday, the eleventh day of January, two thousand and twenty-one, called a Convention for proposing amendments, do hereby prescribe, together, the times, places and manner of holding that Convention, as set forth in the provisions below: "The Convention shall be limited according to said application to proposing an amendment that reserves to legislatures of the several States all powers to organize and accommodate conventions under the fifth article of the Constitution, prescribes the manner and effect of rescinding applications and ratifications thereunder, and sets the time within which that amendment or currently pending ones may be operatively ratified. "The Convention shall assemble for that purpose at least once, such meeting being at the place in which the most numerous branch of the Missouri General Assembly is sitting, on the one hundred and twentieth day (Sundays excepted) after the date on which the Legislatures before mentioned unanimously assented to these provisions, and be composed of deputies appointed by the several States, with each State appointing, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, at least one deputy (but in no event more than five), provided no Senator or Representative in Congress, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, be appointed a deputy. "All votes in the Convention shall be taken by States, the delegation from each State having one vote, with a quorum to do business consisting of a deputy or deputies from a majority of the States, and a majority of all the States being necessary to an agreement, approval, or adoption of the Convention on any question, order, or resolution. "The Convention shall choose its president and other officers, determine the rules of its proceedings not contrary to these provisions, punish deputies for disorderly behavior, with the concurrence of two-thirds of all the States expel a deputy, and keep a journal of its proceedings and publish the same after it adjourns sine die. "The article approved by the Convention shall be proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, its submission to each State being directed to the executive authority of the State, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by conventions in three fourths of the several States, as the mode of ratification proposed by the Congress." On Tuesday, March 23, all of the first 34 legislatures that applied for the convention had assented to these provisions. On Tuesday, August 10, deputies from every state met in the Missouri State Capitol for the first Convention of the States. Each state delegation arrived with specific instructions from the legislature that appointed them. As soon as it appeared a quorum was present, a deputy from the host state rose, called the convention to order, invited a member of the clergy to lead the convention in prayer, read the joint resolution of Congress, and asked the convention's unanimous consent to take the first roll call. Proceeding without objection, the deputy called the roll by states, requesting they each vote present only if a sufficient number of its deputies are. After the roll call, the deputy announced the presence of a quorum, then asked and received the convention's unanimous consent to proceed as temporary chair of the convention for the purpose of taking nominations and votes for president of the convention. The president having been chosen, the convention commenced with choosing its other officers and determining the rules of its proceedings not contrary to the provisions prescribed by the legislatures for the convention. It then turned to consideration of proposals, assigning them to its appropriate committees, altering them there or in the convention, and voting on which of them and any accompanying statements it should submit to the states' ratifying conventions. With a view to preserving Article V and protecting its original provisions against untoward construction, the deputies framing an intendedly complemental amendment were careful to avoid proposing any words not already in the Constitution. On Wednesday, October 6, the convention completed its work. Convention for proposing amendments Begun and held at the City of Jefferson, in the State of Missouri, on Tuesday, the tenth of August, two thousand and twenty-one Present
The States of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. THE Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, having applied to Congress, under the provisions of the fifth Article of the Constitution of the United States, for the calling of a convention limited to proposing an amendment to the Constitution that reserves to Legislatures of the several States all powers to organize and accommodate conventions under the fifth article of the Constitution, prescribes the manner and effect of rescinding applications and ratifications thereunder, and sets the time within which that amendment or currently pending ones may be operatively ratified. RESOLVED by this Convention for proposing amendments, called by the Congress of the United States of America on the application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, that the following article be proposed to Conventions in the several States, as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which article, when ratified by three fourths of the said Conventions, as the mode of ratification proposed by the Congress, to be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the said Constitution, namely: AN ARTICLE in addition to, and amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, proposed by Convention, and ratified by Conventions in the several States, pursuant to the fifth Article of the Constitution. “Section 1. The legislatures of two-thirds of the several States on whose application the Congress shall call a Convention for proposing amendments shall have sole power to prescribe the times, places and manner of holding that Convention, and each of them may, before the Congress is required to call the same, direct its removal from that application. “No money shall be drawn from the treasury of the United States to provide for the Convention, but the several States, or any of them, may consent to assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred by the Convention. “Sec. 2. If the legislature of a State or convention therein shall have ratified an amendment to the Constitution according to the one or other mode of ratification proposed by the Congress, the legislature thereof or the same or another convention therein, according to the same mode, may void that ratifying act. But this section shall not be so construed as to affect any amendment after it becomes valid as part of the Constitution. “The legislature of each State shall have sole power to prescribe the times, places and manner of holding such conventions therein. “Sec. 3. This article, or any previously proposed as an amendment to the Constitution which shall not have become valid as part thereof prior to the date this article was proposed, shall be inoperative unless ratified, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of its submission to the States by a Convention for proposing amendments or by the Congress.” DONE in Convention by the consent of the States present the sixth day of October in the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty one and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty sixth. By Order of the Convention President of the Convention. The secretary of the convention sent to every state governor a certified copy of this resolution. As in the case of the Twenty-first Amendment, it was left to each state to form its convention for ratifying or rejecting the proposed amendment. Several did by following procedures contained in their existing laws. Others by creating ad hoc procedures and following those. Georgia followed the general procedures the 156th General Assembly passed on Tuesday, March 23, and the governor signed into law the next day. A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT To amend Title 50 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to state government, so as to provide for conventions for the purpose of considering and acting upon proposed amendments to the Constitution of the United States when Congress proposes conventions in the states as the mode of ratification of those amendments; to provide for the number and qualification of the members of the convention; to provide for the date and manner of the election of members; to prescribe the times, places and manner of holding the convention; to authorize appropriation of amounts sufficient to cover the cost of the election and convention; to provide definitions; to provide for applicability; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA: SECTION 1. Title 50 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to state government, is amended by adding a new chapter to read as follows: “CHAPTER 41 50-41-1. This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the 'Georgia Ratifying Conventions Act.' 50-41-2. (a) Within 30 days after the governor receives official notification that an amendment or amendments to the Constitution of the United States has or have been proposed by the Congress or by a Convention for proposing amendments, and that the Congress has proposed conventions in the states as the mode of ratification of the same, an election of members of the convention in this state shall be called and published by the governor, and shall be conducted not less than 60 days nor more than 90 days after such call; provided, however, that: (1) If the governor receives such notification less than 180 days after a notification regarding a separate and distinct proposal of an amendment or amendments was last received by a governor of this state, such 30 days shall begin on the ninetieth day after the adjournment sine die of the convention assembled in consequence of that earlier notification; and (2) If a primary or general election is to be held not less than 60 days nor more than 90 days after such call is issued, the election of members of the convention shall be conducted on that date. Such publication shall include the full text of each proposed amendment. (b) The convention shall consist of 56 delegates chosen by electors residing in the several senatorial districts, and the electors in each district shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the Georgia Senate. (c) At the time of their election or appointment, the members of the convention shall be citizens of the United States, shall be at least 25 years of age, shall have been citizens of this state for at least two years, and shall have been legal residents of the territory embraced within the district from which elected or appointed for at least one year. But no person who is a United States Senator or Representative, or a member of the General Assembly of Georgia, or an executive or judicial officer, either of the United States or of the State of Georgia, or who is not a registered voter or who has been convicted of a felony involving moral turpitude, unless that person's civil rights have been restored and at least ten years have elapsed from the date of the completion of the sentence without a subsequent conviction of another felony involving moral turpitude, or who is the holder of public funds illegally, shall be a member of the convention. 50-41-3. (a) Each state Senate district shall have one delegate in the convention constituted under Code Section 50-41-2 or Code Section 50-41-7. The election superintendents whose respective counties are embraced or partly embraced within such district shall cooperate and coordinate with each other and with the Secretary of State in carrying out in such counties and district the provisions of this Code section and Code Section 50-41-4. (b) In each state Senate district, nominations of candidates for delegate to the convention from that district shall be by nomination petitions, and shall be without party or political designation. Nomination petitions shall be in the form prescribed by the Secretary of State, and no form other than the one so prescribed shall be used for such purposes, but such petitions shall provide sufficient space for the printing of the person's name as well as for his or her signature and the date on which he or she added it to the petition. In addition to the other requirements provided for in this Code section, each person signing a nomination petition shall also print his or her name thereon and write beside his or her signature the date on which he or she added it to the petition. (c) A person shall be eligible to be nominated a candidate for delegate if, no later than seven days after an election of delegates has been called and published by the governor, he or she has filed with the election superintendent of the county in which he or she resides and published in a newspaper of general circulation in the state Senate district his or her notice of intention to be a candidate for delegate from that district, and has included in that notice the text of every proposed amendment and signified next to each one his or her intention to vote in favor of the ratification or rejection of that proposed amendment whenever the convention considers it, and has also filed therewith, not later than the fifth day after the deadline for filing and publishing such notice, a copy of the notice as published with an affidavit made by him or her stating that the notice has been published and including the name of the newspaper and the date of publication. But no person who shall not meet the qualifications set forth in subsection (c) of Code Section 50-41-2, shall be eligible to be nominated. (d) Within five days after the deadline for filing copies of published notices with affidavits under subsection (c) of this Code section, the election superintendent of each county shall publish in the official organ of the county a notice that lists every proposed amendment, showing next to the text of each amendment the names of all eligible nominees residing in the country, listed by state Senate district, who intend to vote in favor of its ratification and, in a separate column or listing, who intend to vote in favor of its rejection. (1) The notice by the election superintendent shall be substantially in the following form: 'State of Georgia, County of Example Notice is hereby given that each resident of the said county named herein is eligible to be nominated by nomination petition a candidate for Delegate to the Georgia Ratifying Convention from the Senate District in which he or she legally resides, and has signified his or her intention to vote in favor of ratification or rejection of each of the Proposed Amendments to the Constitution of the United States to be considered by the Convention whenever the Convention considers the same, as indicated: | Proposed Amendment | Intending to vote in favor of its | | Ratification | Rejection | | No. 1 "Text of the first proposed amendment." | Senate District 24 | John Doe
Richard Roe
John Smith
Mary Smith
| Jane Roe
| | Senate District 25 | Charles Coe
Michael Moe
| Daniel De Foe
Louis St Loe
| | Senate District 26 | Mary Coe
Charles Smith
| Jane Smith
| | No. 2 "Text of the second proposed amendment." | Senate District 24 | Jane Roe
Richard Roe
| John Doe
John Smith
Mary Smith
| | Senate District 25 | Charles Coe
| Daniel De Foe
Louis St Loe
Michael Moe
| | Senate District 26 | Charles Smith
| Mary Coe
Jane Smith
|
Nomination petitions of candidates shall be circulated, signed, filed, and verified pursuant to the provisions of the Act of the General Assembly known as the Georgia Ratifying Conventions Act (Ga. L. 2021, pp. ___ - ___). Superintendent of Elections' (2) After publishing the same, the election superintendent shall transmit to the Secretary of State a copy of the notice as published. (e) A nomination petition of a candidate for delegate shall be signed by at least 1,000 persons. No portion of any sheet thereof shall bear the candidate's political body affiliation. When a nomination petition is circulated in more than one county, each sheet of the petition shall bear the name of the county in which it is circulated, and only electors of the designated county may sign such sheet. No nomination petition shall be circulated or signed by any person in any location where alcoholic beverages are sold or served. Each person signing a nomination petition shall do so in the presence of the person circulating the petition, and his or her signature and information written on it shall be in indelible ink. (f) No person other than a duly qualified and registered elector who resides in the state Senate district and was registered and eligible to vote in the last state Senate election therein may sign or circulate a nomination petition of a candidate for delegate from that district. But no registration officer or other person authorized by law to register electors and no employee of the state shall circulate a nomination petition. All signatures obtained by any unqualified person shall be void and shall not be counted in determining the legal sufficiency of the petition. (g) No nomination petition of a candidate for delegate from a state Senate district shall be circulated prior to the publication of the notice by the election superintendent of each county affected, and no signature shall be counted if it was signed prior thereto. For purposes of this subsection, if any such notice or notices shall not have been published by the deadline for publishing the same, as imposed under subsection (d) of this Code section, the notice or notices shall be deemed to have been published on the first day after such deadline. (h) Each nomination petition shall be filed with the election superintendent of the county in which the candidate named in the petition resides not later than 12:00 Noon on the twenty-eighth day prior to the election of delegates. (i) Except as otherwise set forth in this Code section, a nomination petition shall be signed and circulated in the manner provided in subsections (c), (d), and (f) of Code Section 21-2-170. The prohibitions and penalties set out in Code Section 21-4-20, applicable to a recall application or petition, shall also apply to a nomination petition under this Code section. 50-41-4. (a) In each state Senate district, the election superintendents of all counties affected shall be responsible for determining the legal sufficiency of nomination petitions filed with any of them in accordance with Code Section 50-41-3, and shall complete their examinations of all such nomination petitions not later than the fourteenth day prior to the election of delegates; and except as otherwise specified in this chapter, the procedures to be employed in examining a nomination petition to determine if it complies with the law shall conform as nearly as practicable to the procedures governing nomination and recall petitions set forth in Code Sections 21-2-171 and 21-4-11, respectively, and such procedures set forth therein as are necessary to complete this examination process shall be adopted in a manner consistent with such nomination petition of a candidate for delegate. If, after completing such examinations, the election superintendents have certified the legal sufficiency of one or more of the nomination petitions filed with any of them, they shall make a list of all nomination petitions so certified and the number of proper signatures on each, which list they shall sign and certify and transmit to the Secretary of State not later than the twelfth day prior to the election, and shall publish such list as soon as practicable in a newspaper of general circulation in the district. But if no such nomination petition complies with the law, or if no nomination petition has been filed with any of the election superintendents by the deadline for filing nomination petitions, the election superintendents shall immediately inform the governor who shall, within five days, name two of the persons eligible to be nominated under subsection (c) of Code Section 50-41-3 whose voting intentions published thereunder are not the same, and the two persons so named by the governor shall be the candidates for delegate from the district; and if no person or only one person is eligible to be nominated thereunder or the voting intentions of all such persons are the same, the electors voting in the election shall, by their write-in votes for any person who meets the qualifications set forth in subsection (c) of Code Section 50-41-2, elect the delegate from the district, and the provisions of Code Section 21-2-133 regarding write-in candidates shall not apply to that election in the district. (b) On the eleventh day prior to the election of delegates, the Secretary of State shall open all the certificates transmitted to him or her under subsection (a) of this Code section. For each state Senate district from which a certificate was transmitted, the Secretary of State shall grant from the nomination petitions listed in the certificate: (1) In the case of one proposed amendment, the four nomination petitions with the most proper signatures thereon if more than four nomination petitions are listed in the certificate, or all the nomination petitions if not more than four nomination petitions are listed in the certificate; (2) In the case of two proposed amendments, the eight nomination petitions with the most proper signatures thereon if more than eight nomination petitions are listed in the certificate, or all the nomination petitions if not more than eight nomination petitions are listed in the certificate; or (3) In the case of three or more proposed amendments, the twelve nomination petitions with the most proper signatures thereon if more than twelve nomination petitions are listed in the certificate, or all the nomination petitions if not more than twelve nomination petitions are listed in the certificate. (c) At the election of the delegate to the convention from the state Senate district, the assigned number and synopsis of each proposed amendment in the order proposed, followed by the name of each candidate arranged alphabetically by last name and, appearing beside his or her name, the assigned number of each proposed amendment whose ratification he or she favors or the word 'none' if he or she favors rejection of every amendment, or followed by an appropriate space for the casting of a write-in vote if there is no named candidate, shall be printed and placed on the ballot along with the caption and appropriate directions as specified by rule or regulation of the Secretary of State; and if conducted on the date of a primary or general election, insofar as practicable such office to be filled shall be separated from the names of candidates to other offices by being listed last on the ballot. In the event that no candidate receives a majority of the total votes cast for the office of delegate from the district, there shall be an election runoff between the candidates receiving the two highest numbers of votes. No person shall be eligible as a write-in candidate in any election under this Code section at which there is a candidate's name printed on the ballot. (d) The election of delegates shall be conducted in all respects in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 2 of Title 21, relating to general elections; and the provisions of Chapter 2 of Title 21, relating to general elections, shall apply thereto insofar as practicable and as not inconsistent with any other provisions of this chapter. Elections of delegates held at the time of a primary or general election, as provided by paragraph (2) of subsection (a) of Code Section 50-41-2 and by Code Section 21-2-541, shall be conducted by the poll officers by the use of the same equipment and facilities, so far as practicable, as are used for such primary or general election. The powers, duties, and penalties conferred or imposed by law upon public officials who conduct special elections are conferred and imposed upon public officials conducting elections of delegates. 50-41-5. (a) The Secretary of State shall issue certificates of election to the persons elected members of the convention constituted under Code Section 50-41-2 or Code Section 50-41-7, and shall, at its first meeting, present before the convention the several returns of the elections of members of the convention. Each member, before taking the seat to which elected or appointed, shall take the oath or affirmation prescribed by law. Such oath or affirmation shall be administered by any Justice of the Supreme Court procured by the governor; and immediately upon their taking such oath or affirmation, each member of the convention shall be issued a commission under the great seal of the State of Georgia, signed by the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State shall select a member to act as chair of the convention until its president has been chosen pursuant to this Code section. (b) The convention shall assemble at least once, and such meeting shall begin at 10:00 A.M. on the third Monday next following the date of the election (including any runoff election) of members of the convention, and may continue in session for a period of no longer than 30 days in the aggregate. The convention shall not adjourn during such session for more than three days nor meet in any place other than the state capitol, unless the General Assembly meets therein in a regular or special session, in which event the convention shall be adjourned to the second Monday next following the date on which the General Assembly adjourns sine die. (c) A majority of the members to which the convention is entitled shall constitute a quorum to transact business. A smaller number may adjourn from day to day and compel the presence of its absent members. (d) The convention shall choose its president and other officers, including a secretary, shall determine its rules of procedure and may provide for its employees; and until it determines such rules, the rules of the Georgia Senate shall apply to the convention insofar as practicable and as not inconsistent with any other provisions of this chapter. (e) When a vacancy occurs in the convention, the governor shall appoint, within seven days after the occurrence of such vacancy, a qualified successor whose intention to vote in favor of the ratification or rejection of the proposed amendment or amendments is the same. The seat of a member of the convention shall be vacant upon the removal of such member's legal residence from the district from which elected or appointed. (f) The members of the convention shall receive no salary but shall be reimbursed for their reasonable and necessary expenses actually incurred in the performance of their duties, and such reimbursements shall be under the same terms, conditions, and limitations as prescribed by law in cases of members of the General Assembly. (g) The convention shall be the judge of the election, returns, and qualifications of its members and shall have power to punish them for disorderly behavior or misconduct by censure, fine, imprisonment, or expulsion; but no member shall be expelled except by a vote of two-thirds of the members of the convention. (h) The convention may punish by imprisonment, not extending beyond the session, any person not a member who shall be guilty of a contempt by any disorderly behavior in its presence or who shall rescue or attempt to rescue any person arrested by order of the convention. (i) The members of the convention shall be free from arrest during the session of the convention, or committee meetings thereof, and in going thereto or returning therefrom, except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace. No member of the convention shall be liable to answer in any other place for anything spoken in the convention or in any committee meeting of the convention. (j) All elections by the convention shall be by recorded vote, and the vote shall appear on the journal of the convention. (k) The convention is authorized to expend state funds available to the convention for the discharge of its duties. Said funds may be used for the purposes of compensating staff personnel, paying for appropriate services, and paying all other necessary expenses incurred by the convention in performing its duties. 50-41-6. (a) Each convention constituted under Code Section 50-41-2 or Code Section 50-41-7 shall keep and publish after its adjournment a journal of its proceedings. The original journals shall be the sole, official records of the proceedings of the ratifying conventions in this state and shall be preserved as provided by law. The president of the convention shall cause to be published in a newspaper of general circulation in this state the resolutions and enactments adopted and approved at the session of the convention. (b) Every proposed amendment shall be read in its entirety in the convention before it shall be voted upon; and no motion to alter any thing in a proposed amendment shall ever be in order. In all cases, the votes of each member of the convention shall conform to the published intentions, if any, of such member. (c) No proposed amendment shall be ratified by the convention unless it shall receive a majority of the votes of all the members to which the convention is entitled, and such vote shall so appear on the journal of the convention. Unless the rules of the convention provide otherwise, no proposed amendment shall be voted upon more than once during the session without the consent of two-thirds of the members present, and any proposed amendment that is voted upon but fails to receive a majority of the votes of all the members to which the convention is entitled shall be deemed rejected by the convention. If a proposed amendment becomes valid as part of the Constitution of the United States before or during the session of the convention, the vote upon such amendment may be canceled or voided by the convention if its rules so allow. (d) When ordered by the presiding officer or at the desire of one-fifth of the members present or a lesser number if so provided by the rules of the convention, a roll-call vote on any question shall be taken and shall be entered on the journal. (e) All ratifications and rejections of proposed amendments enacted by the convention shall be signed by the president of the convention and submitted to the Secretary of State and to the Secretary of State of the United States and such other officer as may be designated by the Congress of the United States. 50-41-7. (a) A convention constituted under Code Section 50-41-2 or this Code section to respectively consider and act upon or reconsider and act otherwise upon a separate and distinct proposal of an amendment or amendments to the Constitution of the United States may be succeeded by a convention constituted under this Code section to reconsider and act otherwise upon the same proposal; provided, however, that no successor convention shall rescind or revoke the ratification of any proposed amendment after it becomes valid as part of the Constitution of the United States except by express leave of the General Assembly. If the ratification of any proposed amendment by a convention constituted under either such Code section is rescinded or revoked by a successor convention in accordance with this chapter, such ratification shall be null and void and of no effect, and such proposed amendment shall be treated as though it was never ratified in this state. (b) Not less than two years after the adjournment sine die of a convention constituted under Code Section 50-41-2 or this Code section, the question of whether it shall be succeeded may be added to the ballot in a primary or general election as provided in subsection (c) of this Code section. Such question shall be voted upon by the electors of each state Senate district who are registered and qualified to vote in such primary or general election. If a majority of such electors voting on such question shall vote in the affirmative in at least 38 state Senate districts, then within 30 days after the governor receives official notification that the tabulation of such votes has been certified and filed by the Secretary of State pursuant to subsection (d) of this Code section, an election of members of the successor convention shall be called and published by the governor according to the provisions of subsection (a) of Code Section 50-41-2; otherwise, such question may not again be submitted to the voters of the several senatorial districts until after 24 months immediately following the month in which the election was held. (c) A referendum election to authorize a successor convention may be initiated either by resolution of the General Assembly or by written petition containing the signatures of at least 15 percent of the registered and qualified voters of each of any 29 state Senate districts and at least one percent of each of the other 27 state Senate districts. If initiated by such written petition: (1) The petition shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of State shall complete his or her examination of the petition within 45 days after it was filed; (2) The petition shall not be amended, supplemented, or returned after its presentation to the Secretary of State, nor be granted except upon its validation by the Secretary of State; (3) Validation of the petition shall be the procedure in which the Secretary of State determines whether each signature on the petition is the name of a registered and qualified voter and that the petition contains a sufficient number of valid signatures; (4) The required number of signatures of registered voters of a state Senate district shall be computed based on the number of voters qualified to vote at the general election immediately preceding the presentation of the petition; (5) Actual signers of the petition shall be registered and qualified to vote in the referendum election sought by the petition; and (6) No signature shall be counted unless it was signed within 180 days of the day the petition was filed, and no person shall sign the petition more than once. Within five days after such resolution is deposited in the office of the Secretary of State or such written petition is granted, the referendum election shall be called and published by the Secretary of State, and shall be conducted on the date of and in conjunction with the next primary or general election to be held not less than 45 days after such call. (d) Upon receiving the certified returns of a referendum election called under subsection (c) of this Code section from the various superintendents, the Secretary of State shall proceed as provided in subsection (a) of Code Section 21-2-499. Not later than 5:00 P.M. on the fourteenth day following the date on which such election was conducted, the Secretary of State shall certify the votes cast upon the question voted for by the electors of the several senatorial districts and shall no later than that same time certify the results to the Governor. (e) The Twenty-first Amendment to the Constitution of the United States may not be ratified in this state except by a convention constituted under this Code section; and for purposes of this subsection, such amendment shall be treated as though it had been rejected by a convention constituted under Code Section 50-41-2 which had adjourned sine die on July 1, 2022. 50-41-8. (a) There is authorized to be appropriated by the General Assembly: (1) To the executive branch of the state government an amount sufficient to cover the cost of administering this chapter, including the cost of holding and conducting elections of members of each convention constituted under Code Section 50-41-2 or Code Section 50-41-7; (2) To both the legislative and executive branches of the state government an amount sufficient to cover the cost of hosting each such convention; and (3) To each such convention an amount sufficient to cover the cost of operating that convention. (b) Reimbursements entitled to be received by members of each convention constituted under Code Section 50-41-2 or Code Section 50-41-7 shall be paid out of funds appropriated or otherwise available to the Secretary of State. 50-41-9. The Secretary of State is authorized to promulgate such rules and regulations as are necessary to carry out this chapter.” SECTION 2. This Act shall become effective upon its approval by the Governor or upon its becoming law without such approval. SECTION 3. All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed. Georgia's governor received official notification of the proposed amendment on Friday, October 8. On Wednesday, November 3, he called an election of delegates to Georgia's ratifying convention, setting its date as late as the law allows in order to minimize the delay between the convention's first and second meetings caused by the 2022 regular session of the General Assembly. On Tuesday, February 1, 2022, Georgia's voters elected the members of the state's first-ever ratifying convention. Runoff elections were held on Tuesday, March 1. At 10:00 A.M. on Monday, March 21, the delegates-elect met in the state capitol to be sworn into office by the Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court. After they chose the president and secretary of the convention and determined its rules, the convention adjourned as the law required. On Monday, April 11, 2022, the delegates returned to the state capitol for Day 2 of the session. The convention resolved itself into a committee of the whole to consider the proposed amendment. On Day 3, the committee favorably reported it. On Day 4 — Wednesday — the proposed amendment was ratified in the convention by majority vote. On Day 5, the session's last, the president signed the instrument of ratification and the secretary was given the task of submitting the original to Georgia's Secretary of State and sending a certified copy to the U.S. Secretary of State and to the Archivist of the United States. STATE OF GEORGIA, IN CONVENTION; Wednesday, April the thirteenth, two thousand and twenty-two. WHEREAS, pursuant to the fifth article of the Constitution of the United States, the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several States) did, on the eleventh day of January, two thousand and twenty-one, call a Convention for proposing amendments to the Constitution of the United States, limited according to the said application to proposing an amendment that reserves to legislatures of the several States all powers to organize and accommodate conventions under the fifth article of the Constitution of the United States, prescribes the manner and effect of rescinding applications and ratifications thereunder, and sets the time within which that amendment or currently pending ones may be operatively ratified, and propose conventions in the several states as the mode of ratification of that amendment; AND WHEREAS, the Governor of the State of Georgia received, on the eighth day of October, two thousand and twenty-one, official notification that the deputies of the United States in the said Convention, begun and held at Jefferson City, Missouri, on the tenth day of August, two thousand and twenty-one, proposed an article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States which reads: "Section 1. The legislatures of two-thirds of the several States on whose application the Congress shall call a Convention for proposing amendments shall have sole power to prescribe the times, places and manner of holding that Convention, and each of them may, before the Congress is required to call the same, direct its removal from that application. "No money shall be drawn from the treasury of the United States to provide for the Convention, but the several States, or any of them, may consent to assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred by the Convention. "Section 2. If the legislature of a State or convention therein shall have ratified an amendment to the Constitution according to the one or other mode of ratification proposed by the Congress, the legislature thereof or the same or another convention therein, according to the same mode, may void that ratifying act. But this section shall not be so construed as to affect any amendment after it becomes valid as part of the Constitution. "The legislature of each State shall have sole power to prescribe the times, places and manner of holding such conventions therein. "Section 3. This article, or any previously proposed as an amendment to the Constitution which shall not have become valid as part thereof prior to the date this article was proposed, shall be inoperative unless ratified, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of its submission to the States by a Convention for proposing amendments or by the Congress."; AND WHEREAS, pursuant to Chapter 41 of Title 50 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, the election of delegates to this convention was called and published by the Governor on the third day of November, two thousand and twenty-one, was conducted and held in the several senatorial districts on the first day of February, two thousand and twenty-two, and was followed twenty-eight days later by the runoff election of delegates conducted and held in a number of the said districts; AND WHEREAS, the delegates so elected members of this convention took their seats upon taking the oath or affirmation prescribed by law and were issued a commission under the great seal of the State of Georgia, and their election, returns and qualifications were judged by the convention to all be in good order; AND WHEREAS, the session of this convention was begun and held at Atlanta, on the twenty-first day of March, two thousand and twenty-two, in the State Capitol and continued therein on Monday through Thursday, the eleventh through fourteenth days of April, two thousand and twenty-two, during which session the convention considered and acted upon the said proposed article of amendment. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE DELEGATES OF THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA that we, the delegates of the People of the State of Georgia in Convention met, pursuant to the said law of the State of Georgia, having taken into our serious consideration the said proposed article of amendment, have assented to, ratified, and adopted, and by these presents do, in virtue of the powers and authority to us given by the People of the said State for that purpose, for, and in behalf of ourselves and our Constituents, fully and entirely assent to, ratify and adopt the said proposed article of amendment. DONE, in Convention, at Atlanta in the said State, on the thirteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty-two, and of the Independence of the United States the two hundred and forty-sixth. President of the Convention. Attest. Secretary of the Convention. However chosen and constituted, the states' ratifying conventions considered the amendment and began sending their certificates of ratification to the Archivist of the United States. Each ratification document was immediately conveyed to the Director of the Federal Register for examination then retained by the National Archives and Records Administration's Office of the Federal Register. In 2023, after the 38th convention to ratify the amendment sent its certificate to the Archivist, the OFR transferred all documents to the National Archives for preservation. The Twenty-eighth Amendment was adopted. A path cleared of congressional obstructions now awaited the second Convention of the States.
Labels: a Republic if we can keep it, Article V Convention for proposing Amendments
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