03/06/1997 03:42 PM Senate STA

         SJR  4 FED CONST AM RE: CAMPAIGN EXPENDITURES                        
                                                                              
  SENATOR DAVE DONLEY , sponsor of the measure, explained SJR 4                
 proposes to Congress a U.S. constitutional amendment to empower               
 Congress to set reasonable campaign spending limits for election to           
 federal offices, and to allow states to set reasonable limits for             
 campaign expenditures for state and local offices.  SJR 4 parallels           
 identical resolutions currently before Congress and addresses the             
 problem raised with the U.S. Supreme Court decision of Buckley v.             
 Valeo which prohibits campaign spending limits because the Court              
 has equated campaign spending with the right to free speech.  There           
 is a national movement to give government the authority, under the            
 Constitution, to limit campaign spending.                                     
                                                                               
 Number 035                                                                    
                                                                               
  CHAIRMAN GREEN  noted there is general concern about what a                  
 Constitutional Convention could encompass.  She added states tend             
 to withdraw requests for a Constitutional Convention when the                 
 possibility actually arises.                                                  
                                                                               
  SENATOR DONLEY  responded every time this country has come close to          
 holding a Constitutional Convention one of two things has happened:           
 a state withdraws its request, or Congress has taken action to                
 amend the Constitution on its own.  During the last election, the             
 voters of Alaska approved, and in fact mandated, that the State use           
 this identical procedure in asking for a constitutional amendment             
 for term limits.  Most people do not want a Constitutional                    
 Convention but a serious change in the federal system over the last           
 two centuries has occurred.  When the U.S. Constitution was                   
 originally drafted, states had a lot of very important powers they            
 no longer have to encourage changes on the federal level, and                 
 changes to the federal Constitution.   One example of a federal               
 check and balance procedure between the federal government and the            
 states that no longer exists is that State legislatures originally            
 chose their senators.  If a state wanted a U.S. constitutional                
 amendment, legislators could instruct their senators to vote that             
 way.  States no longer have that authority.  Resolutions are                  
 virtually the only remaining power that rests with the states to              
 compel action by the federal government.  If the states fail to use           
 this power occasionally, they have no remaining powers in the                 
 federal system.  It is clear no one wants a Constitutional                    
 Convention, but SJR 4 sends a very serious message to Congress and            
 will spur it to action.  He stated he would be one of the first to            
 advocate that if, 25 to 30 other states made the same request,                
 Alaska withdraw its request, if Congress does not act                         
 independently.                                                                
                                                                               
  SENATOR WARD  moved SJR 4 out of committee with a zero fiscal note           
 and individual recommendations.  He noted he plans to speak to                
 Judiciary Committee members for assurance that a Constitutional               
 Convention will not take place as a result of SJR 4.  There being             
 no objection, SJR 4 moved out of committee with individual                    
 recommendations.