CSHJR 45(STA): 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 CS FOR HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 45(STA) 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 some states 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 some states, even temporarily, can have
01 serious adverse consequences, particularly because of the important role the federal 02 government plays for those states with small delegations in the United States House of 03 Representatives; and 04 WHEREAS, for the same reasons, the lack of temporary representation for any 05 congressional district can have serious consequences, not only for that district, but for that 06 part of the state or for the entire state, even in states with medium or large delegations to the 07 United States House of Representatives; and 08 WHEREAS having a method of quickly filling vacancies in the United States House 09 of Representatives would be beneficial to the nation in the event of a large number of 10 vacancies due to the occurrence of a disaster or terrorist attack; and 11 WHEREAS, under art. V, Constitution of the United States, the United States 12 Congress may propose an amendment to the constitution; 13 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests the United 14 States Congress to propose an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to enable 15 the legislature of each state to authorize the executive to temporarily fill by appointment a 16 vacancy in that state's delegation to the United States House of Representatives until an 17 election can be held to fill the seat; and be it 18 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges other states to join 19 this effort to secure this constitutional amendment, which will affect all states and ensure that 20 vacancies in the United States House of Representatives are filled as quickly as possible. 21 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent electronically to the Honorable J. Dennis 22 Hastert, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable Bill Frist, Majority 23 Leader of the U.S. Senate; to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Lisa Murkowski, 24 U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska 25 delegation in Congress; to all other members of the 108th United States Congress; and to the 26 governors and presiding officers of all houses in the state legislatures of all other states.