House Joint Resolution 4 - Introduced HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 4 BY PETTENGILL , DE BOEF , ALONS , SODERBERG , WINDSCHITL , WATTS , SCHULTE , SWEENEY , SANDS , KOESTER , KAUFMANN , SCHULTZ , and HELLAND HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION A Joint Resolution requesting the Congress of the United States 1 to call a constitutional convention pursuant to Article V of 2 the Constitution of the United States in order to propose 3 an amendment to the Constitution of the United States 4 permitting the repeal of any federal law or regulation by a 5 vote of two-thirds of state legislatures. 6 WHEREAS, Article I of the Constitution of the United States 7 begins “All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested 8 in a Congress of the United States”; and 9 WHEREAS, the Congress has exceeded the legislative powers 10 granted in the Constitution of the United States as described 11 in this Resolution, thereby encroaching on the powers that are 12 “reserved to the states respectively, or to the people” as the 13 Tenth Amendment affirms and the rights “retained by the people” 14 to which the Ninth Amendment refers; and 15 WHEREAS, this encroachment includes the accumulation of 16 federal debt, which combined with interest represents a future 17 tax, and is of such great proportion that responsibility for 18 its payments will be passed to future, unborn generations of 19 Americans to assume without their consent, thereby disparaging 20 their rights; and 21 WHEREAS, this encroachment also includes compelling 22 state and local governments to comply with federal laws and 23 regulations without accompanying funding for such mandates; and 24 WHEREAS, in Federalist No. 85, Alexander Hamilton wrote in 25 reference to Article V of the Constitution of the United States 26 and the calling of a convention for the purpose of proposing 27 TLSB 1606YH (4) 84 aw/rj

House Joint Resolution 4 - Introduced amendments that, “We may safely rely on the disposition of the 28 State legislatures to erect barriers against the encroachments 29 of national authority”; and 30 WHEREAS, the Constitution of the United States should be 31 amended in order to halt federal encroachment and restore a 32 proper balance between the powers of Congress and those of the 33 several states, and to prevent the denial or disparagement of 34 the rights retained by the people; NOW THEREFORE, 35 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 36 TLSB 1606YH (4) 84 aw/rj

H.J.R. 4 That the State of Iowa hereby applies and makes application 1 to the Congress of the United States to call a constitutional 2 convention pursuant to Article V of the Constitution of 3 the United States for the limited purpose of proposing a 4 constitutional amendment that permits the repeal of any 5 federal law or regulation by vote of two-thirds of the state 6 legislatures, and the Iowa delegation to such convention, when 7 called, shall propose the following amendment: “Any provision 8 of law or regulation of the United States may be repealed by 9 the several states, and such repeal shall be effective when 10 the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states approve 11 resolutions for this purpose that particularly describe 12 the same provision or provisions of law or regulation to be 13 repealed”; and 14 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this Resolution is revoked 15 and withdrawn, nullified, and superseded to the same effect 16 as if it had never been passed, and retroactive to the 17 date of passage, if it is used for the purpose of calling a 18 constitutional convention or used in support of conducting a 19 constitutional convention to amend the Constitution of the 20 United States for any purpose other than consideration of the 21 amendment proposed in this Resolution; and 22 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the State of Iowa reserves 23 the right to add future amendments as the legislature deems 24 warranted to this application; and 25 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that delegates to such convention, 26 when called, be selected according to procedures established by 27 the legislatures of the several states; and 28 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Secretary of State 29 shall transmit certified copies of this Joint Resolution 30 to the Speaker and Clerk of the United States House of 31 Representatives, the President and Secretary of the United 32 States Senate, and each member of the Iowa delegation to the 33 Congress so that they may be apprised of the sense of the Iowa 34 General Assembly in this matter. 35 -1- LSB 1606YH (4) 84 aw/rj 1/ 2

H.J.R. 4 EXPLANATION 1 This joint resolution constitutes an application to the 2 Congress of the United States from the State of Iowa through 3 the Iowa General Assembly, as required by Article V of the 4 Constitution of the United States, calling upon Congress 5 to convene a constitutional convention for the purpose of 6 considering a United States constitutional amendment to allow 7 the several states to repeal any federal law or regulation by 8 approval of two-thirds of the state legislatures. 9 The resolution stipulates the retroactive withdrawal of this 10 application should a convention be summoned for any purpose 11 other than for the proposed amendment. 12 Similar resolutions would need to be approved by two-thirds 13 of the states for the constitutional convention to be called 14 to propose the United States constitutional amendment set out 15 in this resolution. Three-fourths of the states would need to 16 ratify the constitutional amendment for the amendment to become 17 part of the United States Constitution. 18 -2- LSB 1606YH (4) 84 aw/rj 2/ 2