TOPEKA — A familiar proposal encouraging Kansas legislators to limit the federal government’s influence returned Monday to the Statehouse.
Senate Concurrent Resolution 1604 addresses a desire to impose term limits on federal officials, concerns over fiscal responsibility and curbing federal influence over commerce by requesting Congress to call a convention of states.
The effort has previously received approval from simple majorities in the House and Senate, but state law requires convention bills to be approved by a two-thirds majority. That law is currently tied up in litigation.
Congress can call a convention of states to impose limits on the federal government under Article Five of the U.S. Constitution. In the same article, Congress was given the authority to propose amendments to the Constitution, and it requires Congress to call a convention of states if two-thirds of the states apply for one. Any proposed amendments during a convention have to be ratified by three-fourths of the states.
“We’ve all seen the overreach of the federal government. Honestly, it usually comes with funding,” said Sen. Beverly Gossage, a Eudora Republican, at a Monday hearing, implying government overreach is an unwanted byproduct of federal funding.
IF THE PROPOSED legislation in Kansas passes, it would serve as the state’s application to participate in a convention. Kansas would be the 20th in the country to apply, bringing the total closer to the needed 34 states.
Ben Terrill, a volunteer legislative liaison for the group behind the proposal, Convention of States Action, said more than 47,000 Kansans signed a petition backing a call for a convention. That’s a marked increase from 2016, when Terrill first signed along with about 6,500 others.
Terrill told the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee that the group requested a hearing on the resolution because supporters believe “that finding the best candidates and electing them into office at the federal level no longer secures our rights in the Constitution from the federal government itself.”
“We find the government in Washington has, in fact, become an enemy to our liberty and that the vested interests there will not relinquish their control,” Terrill said.
OPPONENTS to the resolution Monday were concerned the language was too broad, giving legislators too much leeway to use personal preference to guide any potential convention process, and that any constitutional amendments making the federal government smaller would be unlikely to pass.
The committee chairman, Republican Sen. Mike Thompson of Shawnee, advocated for a similar bill last year, which failed to garner supermajority support. He is also one of two state senators behind a lawsuit pending a ruling in federal court that challenges the two-thirds majority requirement.
