00                          SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 2                                                                        
01 Urging the governor to direct the attorney general to assess the number of other state                                  
02 applications under art. V of the Constitution of the United States that call for a                                      
03 constitutional convention; and urging the governor to direct the attorney general to                                    
04 institute or intervene in legal action on behalf of the state relating to the proposal of                               
05 amendments to the Constitution of the United States.                                                                    
06 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE:                                                                                           
07       WHEREAS art. V of the Constitution of the United States declares that "Congress ...                             
08 on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a                                
09 Convention for proposing Amendments"; and                                                                               
10       WHEREAS Congress has a ministerial duty under art. V of the Constitution of the                                 
11 United States to call the convention as requested by multiple state legislatures once the                               
12 legislatures of two-thirds of the several states have requested a convention; and                                       
13       WHEREAS the Twelfth Alaska State Legislature passed HJR 17 in 1982 calling for a                                
14 convention to propose an amendment that would require the total federal appropriations not to                           
15 exceed the total estimated federal revenue in a fiscal year; and                                                        
01 WHEREAS the Twenty-Eighth Alaska State Legislature passed HJR 22 in 2014                                              
02 calling for a convention to propose amendments that impose fiscal restraints on the federal                             
03 government, limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, and limit the terms of                          
04 the office of federal government officials; and                                                                         
05       WHEREAS it is currently unknown how many other state legislatures have called for                               
06 a constitutional convention equivalent to HJR 17 and HJR 22 and whether the two-thirds                                  
07 threshold for a constitutional convention has been met; and                                                             
08       WHEREAS, under AS 44.23.020(b)(1), "the attorney general shall … defend the                                     
09 Constitution of the State of Alaska and the Constitution of the United States of America"; and                          
10 WHEREAS, under AS 44.23.020(b)(5), "the attorney general shall … give legal                                           
11 advice on a law … upon request by the legislature or a member of the legislature";                                      
12 BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate requests the governor to direct the attorney                                           
13 general to assess the number of other state applications under art. V of the Constitution of the                        
14 United States that call for a constitutional convention equivalent to the calls made by the state                       
15 and make the findings available to the Alaska State Legislature; and be it                                              
16 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Senate urges the governor to direct the attorney                                            
17 general to defend the Constitution of the United States and institute legal action requiring                            
18 Congress to call for a constitutional convention on behalf of the state if the attorney general                         
19 determines that two-thirds of state legislatures have called for a constitutional convention                            
20 under art. V of the Constitution of the United States.                                                                  
21 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Mike Dunleavy, Governor                                      
22 of Alaska; and the Honorable Treg Taylor, Alaska Attorney General.