Florida Senate - 2024                                    SCR 324
       
       
        
       By Senator Ingoglia
       
       
       
       
       
       11-01327A-24                                           2024324__
    1                    Senate Concurrent Resolution                   
    2         A concurrent resolution applying to the Congress of
    3         the United States to call a convention for the sole
    4         purpose of proposing an amendment to the Constitution
    5         of the United States which requires a balanced federal
    6         budget.
    7  
    8         WHEREAS, on April 21, 2010, the Legislature of the State of
    9  Florida adopted Senate Concurrent Resolution 10, which made
   10  application to Congress to call a convention pursuant to Article
   11  V of the Constitution of the United States to propose amendments
   12  to the Constitution of the United States to achieve and maintain
   13  a balanced federal budget and to control the ability of Congress
   14  and federal executive agencies to dictate to states requirements
   15  for the expenditure of federal funds, and
   16         WHEREAS, on April 21, 2014, the Legislature of the State of
   17  Florida adopted Senate Memorial 658, which made application to
   18  Congress to call a convention pursuant to Article V of the
   19  Constitution of the United States for the sole purpose of
   20  proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States
   21  to require a balanced federal budget, and
   22         WHEREAS, on May 2, 2023, the Legislature of the State of
   23  Florida adopted Senate Memorial 176, finding that, in order to
   24  ensure the stability of government and business functions at the
   25  local, regional, state, and national levels, it is imperative
   26  that the Federal Government take action to cut costs, reduce the
   27  tax burden on American families and businesses, operate
   28  according to principles of fiscal responsibility and discipline,
   29  and balance the federal budget, and urging Congress to take
   30  immediate action to begin to reduce the national debt and enact
   31  legislation requiring a balanced federal budget, and
   32         WHEREAS, Congress continues to fail to introduce and enact
   33  legislation requiring its members to pass a balanced budget, and
   34         WHEREAS, the Legislature of the State of Florida intends to
   35  conform its application to the active single subject
   36  applications made to Congress by the States of Alabama, Alaska,
   37  Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana,
   38  Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota,
   39  Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South
   40  Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and
   41  Wyoming, NOW, THEREFORE,
   42  
   43  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida, the House
   44  of Representatives Concurring:
   45  
   46         (1) That the Legislature of the State of Florida applies to
   47  Congress, under Article V of the Constitution of the United
   48  States, to call a convention limited to proposing an amendment
   49  to the Constitution requiring that, in the absence of a national
   50  emergency, the total of all federal appropriations made by the
   51  Congress for any fiscal year not exceed the total of all
   52  estimated federal revenues for that fiscal year, together with
   53  any related and appropriate fiscal restraints.
   54         (2) That this application is to be considered as covering
   55  the same subject matter as the presently outstanding balanced
   56  budget applications from other states and is to be aggregated
   57  with the applications from those states for the purpose of
   58  attaining the two-thirds number of states necessary to require
   59  the calling of a convention, but may not be aggregated with
   60  applications on any other subject calling for a constitutional
   61  convention under Article V of the United States Constitution.
   62         (3) That this application constitutes a continuing
   63  application in accordance with Article V of the United States
   64  Constitution until the legislatures of at least two-thirds of
   65  the states have made applications on the same subject.
   66         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this concurrent resolution is
   67  revoked and withdrawn, nullified, and superseded to the same
   68  effect as if it had never been adopted, and retroactive to the
   69  date of passage, if it is used for the purpose of calling a
   70  convention or used in support of conducting a convention to
   71  amend the Constitution of the United States with any agenda
   72  other than to propose an amendment to the Constitution requiring
   73  that, in the absence of a national emergency, the total of all
   74  federal appropriations made by the Congress for any fiscal year
   75  not exceed the total of all estimated federal revenues for that
   76  fiscal year, together with any related and appropriate fiscal
   77  restraints.
   78         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this application be
   79  dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
   80  President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
   81  United States House of Representatives, to each member of the
   82  Florida delegation to the United States Congress, and to the
   83  presiding officer of each house of the legislature of each
   84  state.