00                      HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 30                                                                     
01 Requesting the United States Congress to call a Constitutional Convention to propose an                                 
02 amendment to the Constitution of the United States requiring approval of a majority of                                  
03 state legislatures to increase the federal debt limit.                                                                  
04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
05       WHEREAS it is in the national interest for the federal government to live within its                            
06 means and not to continue to increase the federal debt limit; and                                                       
07       WHEREAS the United States moves more deeply into debt as its expenditures exceed                                
08 its available revenue, and, with recent increases, the federal debt limit now exceeds $15                               
09 trillion; and                                                                                                           
10       WHEREAS the federal budget annually reflects the unwillingness or inability of the                              
11 federal government to spend in conformity with available revenue; and                                                   
12       WHEREAS the goal of controlling the federal debt limit and federal government                                   
13 spending would be advanced by the adoption of an amendment to the Constitution of the                                   
14 United States requiring the approval of a majority of state legislatures to increase the federal                        
15 debt limit; and                                                                                                         

01       WHEREAS, under Article V of the Constitution of the United States, on the                                       
02 application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the states, the United States Congress shall call                      
03 a constitutional convention for the purpose of proposing amendments to the Constitution of                              
04 the United States; and                                                                                                  
05       WHEREAS the Alaska State Legislature supports the proposal and ratification of an                               
06 amendment to the Constitution of the United States requiring approval of a majority of the                              
07 legislatures of the separate states to increase the federal debt limit;                                                 
08       BE IT RESOLVED that, as provided for in Article V of the Constitution of the                                    
09 United States, the Alaska State Legislature respectfully makes application to the United States                         
10 Congress to call a Constitutional Convention for the sole purpose of proposing an amendment                             
11 to the Constitution of the United States requiring approval of a majority of the legislatures of                        
12 the separate states to increase the federal debt limit; and be it                                                       
13       FURTHER RESOLVED that this application constitutes a continuing application in                                  
14 accordance with Article V of the Constitution of the United States until at least two-thirds of                         
15 the legislatures of the several states have made application for a similar Constitutional                               
16 Convention; and be it                                                                                                   
17       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the legislatures of                                    
18 the other 49 states to make the same application.                                                                     
19       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of                             
20 the United States; the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and                          
21 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Daniel K. Inouye, President pro tempore of the                              
22 U.S. Senate; the Honorable John Boehner, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the                              
23 Honorable Nancy Erickson, Secretary of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Karen L. Haas, Clerk                              
24 of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable                                    
25 Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of                                
26 the Alaska delegation in Congress; and the presiding officers of the legislatures of each of the                        
27 other 49 states.