A JOINT RESOLUTION, Requesting appropriate action by the Congress, either acting by consent of two-thirds of both houses thereof or, upon the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states, calling a constitutional convention therefor to propose an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to require, with certain exceptions, that the total of all federal appropriations may not exceed the total of all estimated federal revenues in any fiscal year.
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA, THE SENATE CONCURRING THEREIN:

    WHEREAS, with each passing year this nation becomes more deeply in debt as its annual expenditures frequently exceed annual available revenues, so that the public debt also steadily increases to a size of inordinate proportions; and

    WHEREAS, unified budgets do not necessarily reflect actual spending because of the

exclusion of special spending outlays which are not included in the budget nor are subject to the statutory legal public debt limit; and

    WHEREAS, knowledgeable planning, fiscal prudence, and plain good sense require that the budget reflect all federal spending and be in balance; and

    WHEREAS, we believe that fiscal irresponsibility at the federal level, with the inflation which results primarily from this policy, is the greatest threat which faces our nation, and that constitutional restraint is necessary to bring the fiscal discipline needed to restore financial responsibility; and

    WHEREAS, under Article V of the Constitution of the United States, amendments to the Federal Constitution may be proposed by Congress whenever two-thirds of both houses deem it necessary, or on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states the Congress shall call a constitutional convention for the purpose of proposing such amendments:

    NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the House of Representatives of the Eighty-seventh Legislature of the State of South Dakota, the Senate concurring therein, that the Legislature does hereby make application to the Congress of the United States that procedures be instituted in the Congress to add a new article to the Constitution of the United States, and that the Legislature of the State of South Dakota hereby requests the Congress to prepare and submit to the several states an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, requiring the absence of a national emergency, as defined by law, that the total of all federal appropriations made by the Congress for any fiscal year may not exceed the total of all estimated federal revenues for that fiscal year; and

    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that alternatively, this Legislature hereby makes application under said Article V of the Constitution of the United States and with the same force and effect as if this Resolution consisted of this portion alone and requests that the Congress of the United

States call a constitutional convention for the specific and exclusive purpose of proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States requiring in the absence of a national emergency, as defined by law, that the total of all federal appropriations made by the Congress for any fiscal year may not exceed the total of all estimated federal revenues for that fiscal year; and

    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this application and request be deemed null and void, rescinded, and of no effect in the event that such convention not be limited to such specific and exclusive purpose; and

    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this application by this Legislature constitutes a continuing application in accordance with Article V of the Constitution of the United States until at least two-thirds of the legislatures of the several states have made applications for similar relief pursuant to Article V, but, if Congress proposes an amendment to the Constitution identical in subject matter to that contained in this Joint Resolution then this petition for a Constitutional Convention shall no longer be of any force or effect; and

    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this Legislature also proposes that the legislatures of each of the several states comprising the United States apply to the Congress requesting the enactment of an appropriate amendment to the Federal Constitution, or requiring the Congress to call a constitutional convention for proposing such an amendment to the Federal Constitution; and

    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that copies of the Joint Resolution be sent by secretary of state to each member of the South Dakota Congressional Delegation; and

    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the secretary of state is directed to send copies of this Joint Resolution to the presiding officers of both Houses of the Legislature of each of the other states in the Union, the clerk of the United States House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.,

and the secretary of the United States Senate, Washington, D.C.