DUTTON — Some Montana citizens held what they call a Convention of States in Dutton on Saturday, June 17th at the Pavilion Park. The group say they called the event under Article V of the U.S. Constitution (link).
Donna Chippewa, House District 17’s Captain says there are three main amendments her group are trying to make to the Constitution.
“Fiscal responsibility such as balanced budget. Term limits for federal officials. We're also going for government overreach and jurisdictional stuff where states have more control of what's going on,” she says.
Montana legislators say individual citizens don’t have the power to do this according to state and federal constitutions. The process is instead legally authorized and empowered through the legislature and its duly elected members. In order to hold a convention of states, legislation would need to be brought before Montana legislature and pass in both Chambers, and finally signed off by the Governor.
Under Article V of the U.S. Constitution, a “Convention of States” can be called if the legislatures of two-thirds of the states call for one. That means in Big Sky Country, the elected members of the Montana House and Senate would need to approve a joint resolution calling for the convention. In February, SJ2 calling for an Article V convention failed in the Senate on a tie vote, 25-25.
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