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SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 2
IN THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE - FIRST SESSION
BY SENATOR MYERS
Introduced: 5/10/23
Referred: Judiciary, Finance
A RESOLUTION
1 Urging the governor to direct the attorney general to assess the number of other state
2 applications under art. V of the Constitution of the United States that call for a
3 constitutional convention; and urging the governor to direct the attorney general to
4 institute or intervene in legal action on behalf of the state relating to the proposal of
5 amendments to the Constitution of the United States.
6 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE:
7 WHEREAS art. V of the Constitution of the United States declares that "Congress ...
8 on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a
9 Convention for proposing Amendments"; and
10 WHEREAS Congress has a ministerial duty under art. V of the Constitution of the
11 United States to call the convention as requested by multiple state legislatures once the
12 legislatures of two-thirds of the several states have requested a convention; and
13 WHEREAS the Twelfth Alaska State Legislature passed HJR 17 in 1982 calling for a
14 convention to propose an amendment that would require the total federal appropriations not to
15 exceed the total estimated federal revenue in a fiscal year; and
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1 WHEREAS the Twenty-Eighth Alaska State Legislature passed HJR 22 in 2014
2 calling for a convention to propose amendments that impose fiscal restraints on the federal
3 government, limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, and limit the terms of
4 the office of federal government officials; and
5 WHEREAS it is currently unknown how many other state legislatures have called for
6 a constitutional convention equivalent to HJR 17 and HJR 22 and whether the two-thirds
7 threshold for a constitutional convention has been met; and
8 WHEREAS, under AS 44.23.020(b)(1), "the attorney general shall … defend the
9 Constitution of the State of Alaska and the Constitution of the United States of America"; and
10 WHEREAS, under AS 44.23.020(b)(5), "the attorney general shall … give legal
11 advice on a law … upon request by the legislature or a member of the legislature";
12 BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate requests the governor to direct the attorney
13 general to assess the number of other state applications under art. V of the Constitution of the
14 United States that call for a constitutional convention equivalent to the calls made by the state
15 and make the findings available to the Alaska State Legislature; and be it
16 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Senate urges the governor to direct the attorney
17 general to defend the Constitution of the United States and institute legal action requiring
18 Congress to call for a constitutional convention on behalf of the state if the attorney general
19 determines that two-thirds of state legislatures have called for a constitutional convention
20 under art. V of the Constitution of the United States.
21 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Mike Dunleavy, Governor
22 of Alaska; and the Honorable Treg Taylor, Alaska Attorney General.
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