Resolution Recommending Constitutional Amendment Restoring Election of U.S. Senators to the Legislatures of the Sovereign States Exposed

The Resolution Recommending Constitutional Amendment Restoring Election of U.S. Senators to the Legislatures of the Sovereign States is a draft model policy considered by ALEC's Federalism and International Relations Task Force at the Annual Meeting in July 2017. As of August 4, 2017 it is not known whehter this model policy was approved by the ALEC Board of Directors.

ALEC Bill Text

Summary

Originally, the U.S. Constitution provided for U.S. Senators to be selected by state legislatures however the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution adopted in 1914 upended 124 years of precedent calling for direct election of U.S. Senators. This change heralded many unintended consequences including greater federal overreach and Senate campaigns that are so costly that U.S. Senators become unduly beholden to special interests. This model policy urges the U.S. Congress to propose a constitutional amendment to overturn the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Whereas Article I, Section 3, Paragraph 1 of the Constitution provided for the Senators to be chosen by the Legislature of each State, and was effective for 124 years;

Whereas the 17th Amendment adopted in 1914 changed this method of choosing Senators to direct election by the people which disenfranchised the sovereign States;

Whereas the 17th Amendment has had many unintended consequences including runaway federal deficits, unfunded mandates, overreach by federal agencies and excessive and burdensome impositions by the federal government upon the States;

Be it resolved by the Legislature of the State of __________________ :

Section 1.

The Legislature of the State of ________________ hereby recommends to Congress that an amendment to the Constitution be adopted that is substantially similar to the following:

• Section 1. The seventeenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.

• Section 2. Senators shall be elected exclusively by the State legislature, upon a majority vote of legislators present and voting in a joint session. If a vacancy shall exist for more than one hundred-eighty days, then the Governor shall appoint the Senator to serve the remainder of the vacant term. This procedure may not be modified by state initiative or referendum.

• Section 3. State legislatures may issue instructions to, or recall, their Senators at any time.

• Section 4. Any Senators serving at the time this amendment becomes a valid part of the Constitution shall complete their current term of office.

Section 3.

The Secretary of State is hereby directed to transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Secretary of the United States Senate, to the Speaker and Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, to the members of the Senate and House of Representatives from this State, and to the presiding officers of each of the legislative Chambers in the several States, all of the forgoing with cover letters requesting appropriate cooperation and action.

Section 4.

This application is to be considered as covering the same subject as any previously outstanding application from other States on the subject of repealing the seventeenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States, including but limited to previously adopted applications from other Stares; and this application shall be aggregated with all other applications on such subject, but shall not be aggregated with applications on any other subject.

Section 5.

This application constitutes a continuing application until such time as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States has been adopted by two-thirds of Congress and three-fourths of the States. It supersedes all previous applications on the same subject.

Adopted this day of 20