Push for Congressional Term Limits

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION OF THE SENATE AND ASSEMBLY making an application to the Congress of the United States of America for the calling of a convention for the purpose of proposing amendments to the Constitution of the United States that limit the terms of office for members of Congress WHEREAS, Article V of the Constitution of the United States provides that Congress must call a convention for the purpose of proposing amendments to the Constitution upon application by two-thirds of the states demanding such action; and WHEREAS, the Legislature of the state of New York is hereby joining with other states in asserting rights and responsibilities under Article V of the Constitution of the United States with regard to proposing a congressional term limits amendment; and WHEREAS, the citizens of twenty-three states, having passed statutes or state constitutional amendments limiting ballot access to federal congressional candidates on the basis of terms previously served in congress, were overruled by the Supreme Court of the United States; and WHEREAS, the influence of money in politics and elections continues to increase and both major political parties have become dependent upon special interest groups that bankroll their campaigns; and WHEREAS, our elected federal officials pass laws that are beneficial to their mega-donors, but are harmful to the American people; and WHEREAS, to maximize their dollars, most Political Action Committees, especially those representing corporations, give the majority of their campaign money to the incumbents in Congress, making it virtually impossible for challengers to win an election; and WHEREAS, the average length of service in Congress continues to rise which creates a detachment between the members and their constituents, making the American people feel they are no longer being listened to; and WHEREAS, open-seat elections will allow for more people to participate in the government from a variety of backgrounds providing better representation and more options for the voters on the ballots; and WHEREAS, the Legislature of the state of New York, a body of citizen legislators, desires to restore rotation in office for members serving in the Congress of the United States; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED (if the &HOUSE concur), The Legislature of the state of New York hereby makes an application to Congress, as provided by Article V of the Constitution of the United States, to call a convention limited to proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to set a limit on the number of terms that a person may be elected as a Member of the United States House of Representatives and to set a limit on the number of terms that a person may be elected as a Member of the United States Senate; and be it further RESOLVED (if the &HOUSE concur), This application shall be considered as covering the same subject matter as the applications from other States to Congress to call a convention to set a limit on the number of terms that a person may be elected to the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States and the Senate of the United States; and this application shall be aggregated with same for the purpose of attaining the two-thirds of states necessary to require Congress to call a limited convention on this subject, but shall not be aggregated with any other applications on any other subject; and be it further RESOLVED (if the &HOUSE concur), This application 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; and be it further RESOLVED (if the &HOUSE concur), The secretary of state is hereby directed to transmit copies of this application to the President and Secretary of the United States Senate and to the Speaker and Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, 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.