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The U.S. Constitution has 27 amendments; each was proposed by Congress and ratified by the states.
However, the Constitution sets forth another procedure, never before used, for amending the Constitution. At the request of two thirds of the states, a constitutional convention would be held, at which amendments could be proposed. Any proposals would become part of the Constitution if three fourths of the states ratified them, either at state conventions or in the state legislatures.
Currently, 27 of the needed 34 states have petitioned Congress for a constitutional convention, for the ostensible purpose of writing a balanced-budget amendment (BBA). However, the convention might propose other changes in addition or instead of a BBA—even a total rewrite of the Constitution—if 38 states agreed, the changes would become law.
In November, legislators from 30 states met in Salt Lake City to discuss the matter.
- Forbes article from 2014 (mirror)
- John Birch Society (has a map)
- utahpolicy.com
- Deseret News
- Yellowhammer News
- The Universe—Brigham Young University
- San Francisco Chronicle
- KSTU-TV
- The Columbian
- Washington Post blog about historical attempts at constitutional conventions
- The Spokesman-Review
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bob_super on Friday December 11 2015, @10:21PM
Here is one, a very of which I know works at least in one other country, but will never be adopted here:
- Congress shall only vote on bills addressing a single issue, as defined by the bill's title and a summary which shall not exceed 100 words and must precisely define the intent of the bill. There shall be no items in a bill which are not directly related to the summarized intent of the bill.
The goal: No more pork. No more buying votes on X with a local subvention to Y. Every congressperson should stand by everything they vote for, not just use riders as a way to run things or hide from embarrassing votes.. Just take more votes, pass more bills, own up to them and to the occasional veto.
In the country in which this works, there's actually a specific court to enforce constitutionality of bills matters (separate from the one which reviews judicial cases or the one reviewing administrative cases). Honestly, that should be a constitutional change in itself.