ALEC’s Balanced Budget Amendment Policy Exposed

ALEC's Balanced Budget Amendment Policy is listed under ALEC's Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force and was included in the 1995 Sourcebook of American State Legislation. According to ALEC.org, the initial amendments were approved by the Board of Directors on January 5, 2011, additional amendments approved in January, 2012. (Accessed on 1/22/2016).

ALEC Bill Text

Summary

These amendments provide an Article V Constitutional convention process in order to discuss adopting a Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Model Legislation

{Title, enacting clause, etc.}

For a Convention to Propose a Balanced Budget Amendment

Be it resolved by the legislature of the State of ______:

Section 1.

The legislature of the State of ______ hereby applies to Congress, under the provisions of Article V of the Constitution of the United States, for the calling of a convention of the states limited to proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States requiring that in the absence of a national emergency 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 [together with any related and appropriate fiscal restraints].

Section 2.

The secretary of state is hereby directed to transmit copies of this application to the President and Secretary of the Senate and to the Speaker and Clerk of the House of Representatives of the Congress, and copies to the members of the said Senate and House of Representatives from this State; also to transmit copies hereof to the presiding officers of each of the legislative houses in the several States, requesting their cooperation.

Section 3.

This application is to be considered as covering the same subject matter as the presently-outstanding balanced budget applications from other states, including but not limited to previously-adopted applications from _________, and this application shall be aggregated with same for the purpose of reaching the two thirds of states necessary to require the calling of a convention, but shall not be aggregated with any applications on any other subject.

Section 4.

This application constitutes a continuing application in accordance with Article five (V) of the Constitution of the United States until the legislatures of at least two-thirds of the several states have made applications on the same subject. It supersedes all previous applications by this legislature on the same subject.