SJR 18-FEDERAL CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION  9:04:56 AM CHAIR DYSON announced that SJR 18 is before the committee. 9:05:05 AM TYLER BELK, Staff, Senator Dyson, Alaska State Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, read an overview as follows: For the past seven years, the U.S. federal government has operated outside of the constraints of what our founding fathers had envisioned. Inherent overspending, over extended use of regulation and enforcement jurisdiction, and unreasonably long service terms of federal government officials are fused several ways in which our national government is moving outside of its designed blueprint. Aiming to mitigate a federal government that exceeds its enumerated powers, our founding fathers added a key provision of the Constitution that would allow for the states to rein in and control any move to expand federal government beyond its intended means. Article V grants states the power to call for a Convention of the States to amend the Constitution in a controlled and topic-specific manner. This ability to call for a convention is a method to rein in and alleviate the aforementioned problems. A Convention of States is not a Constitutional Convention. The scope and subject matter of a Convention of States is controlled and limited by what the applications call for. SJR 18 is the first step in a long process for a convention. Through the Article V process, two thirds or 34 of the 50 states must call for a convention based on a similar application. Congress then must call for a convention once those applications are received. Delegates, who are chosen in a manner decided on by the states, will design and debate amendments aimed at the topic. In this case, imposing fiscal constraints on the federal government, limiting the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, and limiting the terms of office officials will be the topic. If the convention validly proposes one or more amendments, Article V requires Congress to select one of two modes of ratification. The Congress may decide that amendments be submitted to the states, then the state legislatures, or they will demand that the states call for special amendment conventions within the states, similar to how we did with the 21st Amendment to repeal prohibition. SJR 18 is a portion of step 1 of the Article V convention process; it is Alaska's formal application calling for a Convention of the States. Essentially, this resolution is Alaska moving into cue for an Article V convention. CHAIR DYSON asked if anyone in the room would like to testify. 9:08:01 AM ROY CARLSON, representing himself, Wasilla, Alaska, noted that he is a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel and Vietnam veteran. He read a statement as follows: I do not intend my words to be partisan in any way. What I am saying has been going on for many years through different party administrations. The resolution before you is truly non-partisan. During the Constitutional Convention, it was argued that the amendment process did not address the possibility of an out of control federal government, they recognized that Congress would not pass an amendment limiting their own power, so they added another way to amend the Constitution and put that power in the hands of state legislatures, that of course is your committee and your colleagues in the Alaska Legislature. You have a necessary and awesome responsibility. As a solider, I have seen tyranny, I have seen it in the eyes of the children who are not carefree and laugh when they are at play. You see it in the faces of their parents who are afraid for themselves and their children, they are afraid to talk to you for fear of reprisal by their government or terrorist groups. Also, I have talked to a number of immigrants from the former Soviet Union, Cuba, and other countries with tyrannical governments and with a unified voice they say, "Wake up, don't you understand what is happening to you," they see it because they have been through it. The federal government is out of control and we know from history that a mere change of administration is not going to change that and so I ask you to please pass SJR 18. CHAIR DYSON thanked Mr. Carlson for his service to the nation. 9:10:24 AM DAVID EICHLER, State Director, The Convention of State Project, North Pole, Alaska, stated his support for SJR 18. 9:10:59 AM CHAIR DYSON announced that SJR 18 will be held in committee.