Florida Senate - 2016                                     SM 630
       
       
        
       By Senator Bean
       
       
       
       
       
       4-00537A-16                                            2016630__
    1                           Senate Memorial                         
    2         A memorial to the Congress of the United States,
    3         applying to Congress to call a convention under
    4         Article V of the Constitution of the United States
    5         with the sole agenda of proposing an amendment to the
    6         Constitution of the United States to set a limit on
    7         the number of terms that a person may be elected as a
    8         member of the United States House of Representatives
    9         and to set a limit on the number of terms that a
   10         person may be elected as a member of the United States
   11         Senate.
   12  
   13         WHEREAS, Article V of the Constitution of the United States
   14  requires Congress to call a convention for the sole purpose of
   15  proposing amendments to the Constitution upon application of
   16  two-thirds of the states, and
   17         WHEREAS, a continuous and growing concern has been
   18  expressed that the best interests of the nation will be served
   19  by limiting the terms of members of Congress, and
   20         WHEREAS, the voters of the State of Florida, by the
   21  gathering of petition signatures, placed on the general election
   22  ballot of 1992 a measure to limit the consecutive years of
   23  service for several offices, including the offices of United
   24  States Representative and United States Senator, and
   25         WHEREAS, the voters of Florida incorporated this limitation
   26  into the State Constitution as Section 4 of Article VI, by an
   27  approval vote that exceeded 76 percent in the general election
   28  of 1992, and
   29         WHEREAS, in 1995, the United States Supreme Court ruled in
   30  U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton, 514 U.S. 779 (1995), a five
   31  to-four decision, that the individual states did not possess the
   32  requisite authority to establish term limits, or additional
   33  qualifications, for persons elected to the United States House
   34  of Representatives or the United States Senate, and
   35         WHEREAS, upon reflecting on the intent of the voters of
   36  this state and their overwhelming support for congressional term
   37  limits, the Legislature, in its 114th Regular Session since
   38  statehood in 1845, did express through a memorial to Congress
   39  the desire to receive an amendment to the Constitution of the
   40  United States to limit the number of consecutive terms that a
   41  person may serve in the United States House of Representatives
   42  or the United States Senate, and
   43         WHEREAS, the Legislature, in its 118th Regular Session
   44  since statehood in 1845, does desire to see a convention called
   45  under Article V of the Constitution of the United States with
   46  the sole agenda of proposing an amendment to the Constitution of
   47  the United States on the subject of congressional term limits as
   48  specified in this memorial, NOW, THEREFORE,
   49  
   50  Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   51  
   52         (1) That the Legislature of the State of Florida does
   53  hereby make application to Congress, pursuant to Article V of
   54  the Constitution of the United States, to call an Article V
   55  convention with the sole agenda of proposing an amendment to the
   56  Constitution of the United States to set a limit on the number
   57  of terms that a person may be elected as a member of the United
   58  States House of Representatives and to set a limit on the number
   59  of terms that a person may be elected as a member of the United
   60  States Senate.
   61         (2) That this application does not revoke or supersede
   62  Senate Memorial 476 as passed by the 2014 Florida Legislature,
   63  but constitutes a separate, independent application addressing
   64  congressional term limits as specified in this application.
   65         (3) That this application is revoked and withdrawn,
   66  nullified, and superseded to the same effect as if it had never
   67  been passed, and retroactive to the date of passage, if it is
   68  used for the purpose of calling a convention or used in support
   69  of conducting a convention to amend the Constitution of the
   70  United States with any agenda other than to set a limit on the
   71  number of terms that a person may be elected as a member of the
   72  United States House of Representatives and to set a limit on the
   73  number of terms that a person may be elected as a member of the
   74  United States Senate.
   75         (4) That this application constitutes a continuing
   76  application in accordance with Article V of the Constitution of
   77  the United States until the legislatures of at least two-thirds
   78  of the several states have made application on the subject of
   79  congressional term limits as specified in this application.
   80         (5) That this application be aggregated with the
   81  applications from other states on the same subject for the
   82  purpose of attaining the two-thirds majority needed to require
   83  Congress to call a limited Article V convention as specified in
   84  this application, but not be aggregated with any other
   85  applications on any other subject.
   86         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this application be
   87  dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
   88  President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
   89  United States House of Representatives, to each member of the
   90  Florida delegation to the United States Congress, and to the
   91  presiding officer of each house of the legislature of each
   92  state.