Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of SJR0042
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Full Text of SJR0042  98th General Assembly

SJ0042 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY


  

 


 
SJ0042LRB098 13937 JDS 48482 r

1
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The first President of the United States, George
3Washington, stated in his Farewell Address: "The basis of our
4political systems is the right of the people to make and to
5alter their Constitutions of Government."; and
 
6    WHEREAS, It was the stated intention of the framers of the
7Constitution of the United States of America that the Congress
8of the United States of America should be "dependent on the
9people alone" (James Madison, Federalist 52); and
 
10    WHEREAS, That dependency has evolved from a dependency on
11the people alone to a dependency on those who spend excessively
12in elections, through campaigns or third-party groups; and
 
13    WHEREAS, The United States Supreme Court ruling in Citizens
14United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 310 (2010),
15removed restrictions on amounts of independent political
16spending; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Article V of the United States Constitution
18requires the United States Congress to call a convention for
19proposing amendments upon application of two-thirds of the
20legislatures of the several states for the purpose of proposing
21amendments to the United States Constitution; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, The State of Illinois sees the need for a
2convention to propose amendments in order to address concerns
3such as those raised by the decision of the United States
4Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission
5and related cases and events, including those occurring long
6before or afterward, or for a substantially similar purpose,
7and desires that the convention should be so limited; and
 
8    WHEREAS, The State of Illinois desires that the delegates
9to the convention shall be comprised equally from individuals
10currently elected to State and local office, or be selected by
11election in each Congressional district for the purpose of
12serving as delegates, though all individuals elected or
13appointed to federal office, now or in the past, be prohibited
14from serving as delegates to the Convention, and intends to
15retain the ability to restrict or expand the power of its
16delegates within the limits expressed above; and
 
17    WHEREAS, The State of Illinois intends that this be a
18continuing application, considered together with applications
19calling for a convention currently pending in the 188th
20Massachusetts legislature as S.1727 and H.3190, the 2013-2014
21Vermont legislature as J.R.S. 27, and the 2013-2014 California
22legislature as AJR 1, and all other passed, pending, and future
23applications, the aforementioned concerns of Illinois

 

 

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1notwithstanding until such time as two-thirds of the several
2states have applied for a Convention and that Convention is
3convened by Congress; therefore, be it
 
4    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL
5ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
6CONCURRING HEREIN, that we, the legislature of the State of
7Illinois, hereby make application to the Congress, under the
8provisions of Article V of the Constitution of the United
9States, for the calling of a convention for proposing
10amendments; and be it further
 
11    RESOLVED, That this application shall be deemed an
12application for a convention to address each and any of the
13subjects listed in this resolution; for purposes of determining
14whether two-thirds of the states have applied for a convention
15addressing any subject, this application is to be aggregated
16with the applications of any other state legislatures limited
17to one or more of the subjects listed in this resolution; and
18be it further
 
19    RESOLVED, That this resolution constitutes a continuing
20application and remains in effect until rescission by any
21sitting session of the legislature of this State; this
22application does not constitute a recognition that any
23particular activity or activities currently undertaken by the

 

 

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1federal government is or are authorized by the Constitution;
2and be it further
 
3    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
4delivered to the President and Secretary of the United States
5Senate, the Speaker and Clerk of the House of Representatives
6of the United States Congress, and the Archivist of the United
7States; to the members of the United States Senate and House of
8Representatives from this State; and to the presiding officers
9of each of the legislative chambers in the several States,
10requesting their cooperation.