House Amendment 1
H 3676 - Session 125 (2023-2024)
Convention of the States

Reps. T. Moore, W. Newton, Jordan, and King proposes the following amendment (LC-3676.HA0001H):

Amend the concurrent resolution, as and if amended, by adding an undesignated paragraph to read:

Be it further resolved that the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina adopts this application expressly subject to the following reservations, understandings, and declarations:
(1) an application to the Congress of the United States to call an amendment convention of the states pursuant to Article V of the United States Constitution confers no power to Congress other than the power to call such a convention. The power of Congress to exercise this ministerial duty consists solely of the authority to name a reasonable time and place for the initial meeting of a convention; and
(2) Congress shall perform its ministerial duty of calling an amendment convention of the states only upon the receipt of applications for an amendment convention for the substantially same purpose as this application from two thirds of the legislatures of the several states; and
(3) Congress does not have the power or authority to determine any rules for the governing of an amendment convention of the states called pursuant to Article V of the United States Constitution. Congress does not have the power to set the number of delegates to be sent by any state to such a convention, nor does it have the power to name delegates to such a convention. The power to name delegates remains exclusively within the authority of the legislatures of the several states; and
(4) by definition, an amendment convention of the states means that states shall vote on the basis of one state, one vote; and
(5) a convention of the states convened pursuant to this application must be limited to consideration of the topics specified in this joint resolution and no other. This application is made with the express understanding that an amendment that in any way seeks to amend, modify, or repeal any provision of the Bill of Rights, the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments to the United States Constitution shall not be authorized for consideration at any stage. This application shall be void ab initio if ever used at any stage to consider any change to any provision of the Bill of Rights; and
(6) pursuant to Article V of the United States Constitution, Congress may determine whether proposed amendments shall be ratified by the legislatures of the several states or by special state ratification conventions. The South Carolina General Assembly recommends that Congress select ratification by the legislatures of the several states; and
(7) the South Carolina General Assembly may provide further instructions to its delegates and may recall its delegates at any time for a breach of a duty or a violation of the instructions provided.