Second Regular Session
               Seventieth General Assembly
                    STATE OF COLORADO
                                                 INTRODUCED
                                                           
                                                           
 LLS NO. R16-1223.01 Cara Meeker x2044            SJR16-040
                   SENATE SPONSORSHIP
 Lundberg, 
 
                    HOUSE SPONSORSHIP
 Singer, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Senate Committees
 House Committees
 
 
 State, Veterans, & Military Affairs
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                  SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 16-040 
       Concerning an application to the United States Congress to
            call a convention under Article V of the Constitution
            of the United States with the sole agenda of proposing
            an amendment to the Constitution of the United States
            to set a limit on the number of terms that a person may
            be elected as a member of the United States House of
            Representatives and to set a limit on the number of
            terms that a person may be elected as a member of the
            United States Senate.
       
       
            WHEREAS, Article V of the United States Constitution requires
       the United States Congress to call an amendment-proposing convention
       upon application of two-thirds of the legislatures of the several states for
       the purpose of proposing amendments to the United States Constitution;
       and
       
            WHEREAS, A continuous and growing concern has been
       expressed that the best interests of the nation will be served by limiting
       the terms of members of Congress; and
       
            WHEREAS, The voters of Colorado, through the citizen initiative
       process, placed on the general election ballot of 1990 a measure to limit
       the consecutive years of service for several offices, including the offices
       of United States Representative and United States Senator; and
       
            WHEREAS, The voters of Colorado incorporated this limitation
       into the State Constitution by an approval vote that exceeded 70 percent
       in the general election of 1990; and
       
            WHEREAS, In 1995, the United States Supreme Court ruled in
       U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton, 514 U.S. 779 (1995), a five-to-four
       decision, that the individual states did not possess the requisite authority
       to establish term limits, or additional qualifications, for persons elected
       to the United States House of Representatives or the United States Senate;
       and
       
            WHEREAS, It is the solemn duty of the states to protect the liberty
       of our people, particularly for generations to come, by proposing
       amendments to the Constitution of the United States through a convention
       of the states under Article V for the purpose of restraining these and
       related abuses of power; now, therefore,
       
            Be It Resolved by the Senate of the Seventieth General Assembly
       of the State of Colorado, the House of Representatives concurring herein:
       
            (1)  The Colorado General Assembly hereby makes an application
       to Congress, as provided by Article V of the Constitution of the United
       States of America, to call a convention limited to proposing an
       amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America to set a
       limit on the number of terms that a person may be elected as a member of
       the United States House of Representatives and to set a limit on the
       number of terms that a person may be elected as a member of the United
       States Senate.
       
            (2)  This application shall be considered as covering the same
       subject matter as the applications from other States to Congress to call a
       convention to set a limit on the number of terms that a person may be
       elected to the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United
       States and the Senate of the United States; and this application shall be
       aggregated with the same for the purpose of attaining the two-thirds of
       states necessary to require Congress to call a limited convention on this
       subject, but shall not be aggregated with any other applications on any
       other subject.
       
            (3)  This application constitutes a continuing application in
       accordance with Article V of the Constitution of the United States of
       America until the legislatures of at least two-thirds of the several states
       have made applications on the same subject.
       
            Be It Further Resolved, That copies of this Joint Resolution be sent
       to the President and Secretary of the United States Senate; the Speaker
       and Clerk of the United States House of Representatives; each member
       of Colorado's congressional delegation; and to the officers of each of the
       legislative houses in the several states, requesting their cooperation.