ENROLLED
       2014 Legislature                                          SM 476
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                                              2014476er
    1  
    2         A memorial to the Congress of the United States,
    3         applying to Congress to call a convention for the sole
    4         purpose of proposing amendments to the Constitution of
    5         the United States which impose fiscal restraints on
    6         the Federal Government, limit the power and
    7         jurisdiction of the Federal Government, and limit the
    8         terms of office for federal officials and members of
    9         Congress.
   10  
   11         WHEREAS, the Founders of the United States of America
   12  provided in the Constitution of the United States for a limited
   13  Federal Government of express enumerated powers, and
   14         WHEREAS, the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution
   15  specifically provides that all powers not delegated to the
   16  Federal Government nor prohibited by the Constitution to the
   17  states are reserved to the states, respectively, or to the
   18  people, and
   19         WHEREAS, for many decades, this balance of power was
   20  generally respected and followed by those occupying positions of
   21  authority in the Federal Government, and
   22         WHEREAS, as federal power has expanded over the past
   23  decades, federal spending has exponentially increased to the
   24  extent that it is now decidedly out of balance in relation to
   25  actual revenues or when comparing the ratio of accumulated
   26  public debt to the nation’s gross domestic product, and
   27         WHEREAS, in 2013, the Federal Government’s accumulated
   28  public debt exceeded $17 trillion, which is more than double
   29  that in 2006, and
   30         WHEREAS, projections of federal deficit spending in the
   31  coming decades demonstrate that this power shift and its fiscal
   32  impacts are continuing and pose serious threats to the freedom
   33  and financial security of the American people and future
   34  generations, and
   35         WHEREAS, the Founders of the United States of America
   36  provided a procedure in Article V of the Constitution to amend
   37  the Constitution on application of two-thirds of the several
   38  states, calling a convention for proposing amendments that will
   39  be valid to all intents and purposes if ratified by the
   40  legislatures of three-fourths of the several states, or by
   41  conventions in three-fourths thereof, as one or the other mode
   42  of ratification may be proposed by Congress, and
   43         WHEREAS, it is a fundamental duty of state legislatures to
   44  support, protect, and defend the liberty of the American people,
   45  including generations yet to come, by asserting their solemn
   46  duty and responsibility under the Constitution to call for a
   47  convention under Article V for proposing amendments to the
   48  Constitution to reverse and correct the ominous path that the
   49  country is now on and to restrain future expansions and abuses
   50  of federal power, NOW, THEREFORE,
   51  
   52  Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   53  
   54         (1) That the Legislature of the State of Florida does
   55  hereby make application to Congress pursuant to Article V of the
   56  Constitution of the United States to call an Article V
   57  convention for the sole purpose of proposing amendments to the
   58  Constitution of the United States which:
   59         (a) Impose fiscal restraints on the Federal Government.
   60         (b) Limit the power and jurisdiction of the Federal
   61  Government.
   62         (c) Limit the terms of office for federal officials and
   63  members of Congress.
   64         (2) That these three proposed amendment categories are
   65  severable from one another and may be counted individually
   66  toward the required two-thirds number of applications made by
   67  the state legislatures for the calling of an Article V
   68  convention.
   69         (3) That this memorial is revoked and withdrawn, nullified,
   70  and superseded to the same effect as if it had never been
   71  passed, and retroactive to the date of passage, if it is used
   72  for the purpose of calling a convention or used in support of
   73  conducting a convention to amend the Constitution of the United
   74  States for any purpose other than imposing fiscal restraints on
   75  the Federal Government, limiting the power and jurisdiction of
   76  the Federal Government, or limiting the terms of office for
   77  federal officials and members of Congress.
   78         (4) That this application constitutes a continuing
   79  application in accordance with Article V of the Constitution of
   80  the United States until the legislatures of at least two-thirds
   81  of the several states have made applications on one or more of
   82  the three proposed amendment categories listed above.
   83         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
   84  dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
   85  President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
   86  United States House of Representatives, and to each member of
   87  the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.