This concurrent resolution seeks to rescind House Concurrent Resolution No. 40, which was passed by the New Hampshire General Court on May 31, 2012. The 2012 resolution called for Congress to convene a convention under Article V of the United States Constitution for the purpose of proposing a federal balanced budget amendment. The current resolution acknowledges that Article V provides two methods for proposing constitutional amendments and that there is a general belief that state applications for such conventions do not expire, binding current legislatures to decisions made in the past. However, there is disagreement among legal experts about the permanence of these applications and whether a convention could propose amendments beyond its original scope.
The resolution asserts that the 2012 application no longer represents the will of the New Hampshire General Court and that policy reforms should be debated by the current legislature rather than being constrained by past resolutions. Therefore, the resolution formally rescinds the 2012 application and directs the Secretary of the Senate to transmit copies of this resolution to various officials, including the Vice President of the United States, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and each member of the New Hampshire Congressional Delegation, with the intention of publishing it in the Congressional Record.