HJR 45: Requesting the United States Congress to propose an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to provide that a vacancy in the office of United States Representative may be filled by appointment until an election can be held.
00 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 45 01 Requesting the United States Congress to propose an amendment to the Constitution of 02 the United States to provide that a vacancy in the office of United States Representative 03 may be filled by appointment until an election can be held. 04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 05 WHEREAS, under the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United 06 States, the legislature of any state may provide for a temporary appointment by the executive 07 to fill a vacancy in that state's delegation to the United States Senate until an election can be 08 held to fill the seat; and 09 WHEREAS, under art. I, sec. 2, Constitution of the United States, a vacancy in the 10 office of the United States House of Representatives may be filled only by election, which 11 will leave a vacancy in the position until an election can be held; and 12 WHEREAS vacancies in a state's delegation in the United States House of 13 Representatives can leave a small state without any representation at all or with severely 14 curtailed representation until the election is held to fill the vacancy; and 15 WHEREAS the lack of representation for small states, even temporarily, can have
01 serious adverse consequences, particularly because of the important role the federal 02 government plays for small states; and 03 WHEREAS, for the same reasons, the lack of temporary representation for any 04 congressional district can have serious consequences, not only for that district, but for that 05 part of the state or for the entire state, even in medium-sized and larger states; and 06 WHEREAS, under art. V, Constitution of the United States, the United States 07 Congress may propose an amendment to the constitution; 08 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests the United 09 States Congress to propose an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to enable 10 the legislature of each state to authorize the executive to temporarily fill by appointment a 11 vacancy in that state's delegation to the United States House of Representatives until an 12 election can be held to fill the seat; and be it 13 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges other states to join 14 this effort to secure this constitutional amendment, which will affect all states and ensure that 15 congressional vacancies are filled as quickly as possible. 16 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable J. Dennis Hastert, Speaker 17 of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable Bill Frist, Majority Leader of the U.S. 18 Senate; to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Lisa Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and 19 the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in 20 Congress; to all other members of the 108th United States Congress; and to the presiding 21 officers of all houses in the state legislatures of all other states.