How to Succeed with Convention of States

By Z. E. Kendall

The State of Convention of States

Earlier this year, Senate Joint Resolution 58 was proposed in the Kentucky state legislature to sign Kentucky up to the Convention of States, for the purpose of budget and term-limit amendments to the federal U.S. Constitution. Although it didn’t pass, it does show us what has been proposed and where the call for an alternative way to pass nationwide Constitutional amendments is going.

The text of that resolution included reasons for passing the amendments and states the following:

Section 1. The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky 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 amendments to the Constitution of the United States that impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, and limit the terms of office for its officials and members of Congress.

Section 2. The Secretary of State of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is hereby directed to transmit copies of this Joint 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 United States Senate and United States House of Representatives representing the Commonwealth of Kentucky; and to the presiding officers of each legislative house of the several states, requesting their cooperation.

Section 3. This Joint Resolution constitutes a continuing application in accordance with Article 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.[1]

Now, the topic of a convention of states divides the conservative movement. Some align with the John Birch Society and Common Cause in opposing it; while others support it. Convention of States resolutions have passed in states like Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Indiana, Wisconsin, and at least a dozen other states.

Meanwhile, Democrat-controlled state legislatures have been resistant to approving a Convention of States on the issues of a balanced budget and term-limits.

How to Avoid a Runaway Convention

The major concern that opponents of a convention of states have is the possibility of a runaway convention. A runaway convention is a convention which proposes or even approves amendments that go beyond the scope of the topics originally intended for the convention. The fears even extend to the notion that it might amount to a Constitutional Convention for a whole new federal Constitution. However, as former constitutional law professor Robert G. Natelson wrote, “No significant national group is pressing for a plenary or unlimited convention.[2]”

Now, as John Kowal of the Brennan Center for Justice wrote, “The best way to prevent a runaway convention is for Congress to enact a comprehensive set of procedures well before a convention is ever assembled.[3]” However, we can help nudge Congress in the right direction in our joint resolution to Congress.

We can include a section in our joint resolution that the Commonwealth of Kentucky signs on to a Convention of States under the required condition that the Convention of States includes an officer appointed by Congress that has the ability to veto any proposals that are made that fall outside of the scope of the topics expressly mentioned in this joint resolution.

In other words, we want an officer in the convention to have the ability to block the proposal of any amendment that doesn’t fit under “fiscal restraints on the federal government, limitations on the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, and limitations on the terms of office for its officials and members of Congress.” That will help to provide a safeguard against a runaway convention.

Another way to provide a bit of a safeguard on the process would be to choose to have the ratification process go through each state legislature instead of through the popular convention.

Article V of the U.S. Constitution permits four different ways to amend the U.S. Constitution. This is because formal proposal votes and ratification votes are two different things, and Article V provides for two different methods for both. So, the four paths to an amendment are as follows:

1. Proposal vote by two-thirds of U.S. House and U.S. Senate, then ratification by state legislatures. This has been the traditional method for passing almost all of the federal Constitutional amendments we have, but with Congress nearly evenly split by political party, it is extremely hard to do now.

2. Proposal vote by two-thirds of U.S. House and U.S. Senate, followed by ratification by popular conventions in each state. This method was used to adopt the 21st Amendment, repealing Prohibition.

3. Proposal by a convention for proposing Amendments, then ratification by popular conventions in each state.

4. Proposal by a convention for proposing Amendments, then ratification by state legislatures. This is probably the best way to do a convention of states system while preserving our rights. [4]

If the legislatures do the ratification, then they can recognize unauthorized amendments and vote down proposed amendments that don’t seem to match the mission and original intent of the amendment proposal convention.

Specifying the Wording of the Term-Limits Amendment

For our state legislature’s convention of states joint resolution to Congress, we would request that a section be added to include an official recommendation or requirement on the version of term-limits amendment to be discussed.

We may want to get many of the current Congressmen out as soon as possible, but it is unrealistic to believe that Congressmen will vote against their own ability to get re-elected, and we need to also avoid unconstitutional ex post facto violations that would remove Congressmen from office before their current term is legally over.

However, Congress would be more likely to vote for term-limits if they apply only to future elected Congressmen after ratification of the amendment, and those who vote for the states in ratification won’t get upset at their favorite congressmen not being able to get re-elected, because they’ll still be allowed to get re-elected.

So, the version of term-limits amendment needs to read something like this:

No member of the United States House or United States Senate may hold office for more than 12 years unless that member has already been elected to Congress at the time of the ratification of this amendment.

Twelve-year term-limits seems the most proper, as it will allow for 2 whole terms as U.S. Senator and 6 terms as U.S. House member, and it would allow enough time for elected Congressmen to get decent legislation passed under normal conditions, while not having Congressmen in so long that they seem to be there for life.

As long as another state does not pass a resolution that is incompatible with ours, then we can get what we want out of our official joint resolution to Congress, with regards to how a Convention of States is done on the topics in question. We could also include in the resolution a recommendation to have the convention held in Kentucky rather than in Washington, D.C.

Even if we do not get enough states to sign on to a Convention of States, if we get close enough on these issues, then we may be able to pressure Congress to actually do something about the problem even without having a Convention of States. After all, Congressmen could settle on something better for themselves if a Convention of States doesn’t happen. For example, they might decide that 18 years is the proper term limit instead of 12 years and end up giving us that as a term-limit amendment for Congress.

An Idea for a Federal Balanced Budget Amendment

We already know that plenty of Congressmen tend to be lawyers, and we already know that lawyers love to weasel out of requirements via loopholes. So, in constructing a federal balanced budget amendment, we may need nuanced wording that cannot be side-stepped.

We also must acknowledge that Congress is supposed to pass budgetary bills that are forward-looking. So, one way to go about this is to tie in one year’s spending limits to the previous year’s actual tax revenue. We could allow one year’s spending to be something like 103% of the previous year’s tax revenues.

Although that move will not necessarily balance the budget, it will, if followed, lead to a near-balanced budget in only two years, and it will account for some degree of expansion in the U.S. economy from one year to the next.

There must also be a penalty to Congress for failing to achieve the goal set out by the balanced budget amendment. This penalty could be removal from office or prison time.

The Kentucky state legislature could also add a section of its joint resolution to include those elements of a balanced budget amendment as recommendations.

Conclusion

The Kentucky state legislature can improve on the joint resolution to Congress on the Convention of States in several ways:

1. Require that there is a member of the convention itself with veto power to block any proposal that is outside of the intended original scope of topics of the convention

2. Specify the wording desired for the term-limits amendment on Congress, to make it clear that it applies only to future members

3. Recommend that the spending limit of the balanced budget amendment should be tied to the revenues of the previous fiscal year, to achieve a near-balanced budget in two years

4. Recommend that the ratification vote of the amendment proposed in a convention of states meetings be done by state legislatures rather than by popular conventions

We can have a convention of states to propose amendments without having a runaway convention, and we can try to influence which proposals even get put into place, if we word the joint resolution the right way and make it clear where Kentucky stands on the Convention of States and on what amendments we want to the U.S. Constitution.

Notes:

[1] General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. “Bill Text: KY SJR58 | 2025 | Regular Session | Introduced.” Legiscan. 2025. https://legiscan.com/KY/text/SJR58/id/3119675. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025. Web.

[2] Natelson, Robert G. “How a ‘Convention of States’ Really Works.” Association of Mature American Citizens. 25 Sept. 2024. https://amac.us/newsline/politics/newsline/politics/how-a-convention-of-states-really-works/. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025. Web.

[3] Kowal, John. “Is a New Constitutional Convention a Good Idea?” Brennan Center for Justice. 2023. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/new-constitutional-convention-good-idea. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025. Web.

[4] Natelson, Robert G. “How a ‘Convention of States’ Really Works.” Association of Mature American Citizens. 25 Sept. 2024. https://amac.us/newsline/politics/newsline/politics/how-a-convention-of-states-really-works/. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025. Web.