what are two ways to ratify an amendment to the constitution

[LegisBrief] Alteration the U.S. Constitution

Past Brenda Erickson | Vol . 25, No. thirty / August 2017

Current efforts by some state legislatures and other groups to amend the U.South. Constitution have brought forth questions virtually the process for doing so. The Founding Fathers, in crafting the Constitution, believed it should not be like shooting fish in a barrel to amend the nation'south founding document and principles.

Authority to Improve the U.S. Constitution

Commodity 5 of the United States Constitution outlines basic procedures for constitutional amendment.

1. Congress may submit a proposed constitutional amendment to the states, if the proposed amendment language is approved by a ii-thirds vote of both houses.
2. Congress must telephone call a convention for proposing amendments upon application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the states (i.e., 34 of 50 states).
3. Amendments proposed past Congress or convention become valid just when ratified by the legislatures of, or conventions in, iii-fourths of us (i.e., 38 of 50 states).

Amendments Proposed by Congress

To engagement, Congress has submitted 33 subpoena proposals to u.s.a., 27 of which were ratified. The 27^th Amendment, which prevents members of Congress from granting themselves pay raises during a current session, was ratified in 1992—202 years after it was first submitted to u.s..

The post-obit steps must be completed for an subpoena proposed by Congress to be added to the United States Constitution.\

Step i. Passage by Congress. Proposed amendment language must be approved by a two-thirds vote of both houses.

Step 2. Notification of united states. The national archivist sends notification and materials to the governor of each state.

Step 3. Ratification by three-fourths of u.s.a.. Ratification of the amendment language adopted by Congress is an up-or-down vote in each legislative chamber. A state legislature cannot alter the linguistic communication. If it does, its ratification is invalid. A governor's signature on the ratification bill or resolution is not necessary.

Footstep four. Tracking state actions. Proposed amendments must be ratified by three-fourths of the states in social club to take effect. Congress may gear up a time limit for state action. The official count is kept past Function of the Federal Annals at the National Archives. Legislatures must return specific materials to show proof of ratification.

Footstep 5. Annunciation. When the requisite number of states ratify a proposed amendment, the archivist of the United States proclaims it equally a new amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Actual certification is published immediately in the Federal Register and eventually in the United states Statutes-at-Large.

State legislatures often phone call upon Congress to propose constitutional amendments. While these calls may bring some political pressure to bear, Congress is nether no constitutional obligation to respond. The U.S. Constitution does not contain a provision requiring Congress to submit a proposed amendment upon asking by some requisite number of states.

Amendment by Constitutional Convention

In addition to constitutional amendments proposed by Congress, states have the option of petitioning Congress to call a constitutional convention. Legislatures in two-thirds of states must concur, however. While the convention process has yet to exist triggered, efforts to do and then are non new. In fact, they may be "as onetime every bit the democracy." Unofficial sources study convention applications beingness filed as early on as 1789.

Interest in a U.S. constitutional convention has peaked and waned several times over the decades. In the early on 1900s, direct election of senators was a hot topic. In the 1940s and 1950s, federal taxing power was the focus of many applications. Ii issues came close to triggering conventions during the 1960s to 1990s—circulation and a balanced federal budget.

The current moving ridge of interest began around 2010. Its focus is not a unmarried outcome nor is it being driven by one organization. Various groups are pushing their viewpoints—be they conservative, liberal, populist or progressive—and are urging action. On the one hand, legislation calls for a convention on a broad array of topics, such as limiting authority of the federal government, balanced federal budget, campaign finance reform, congressional term limits or federal debt. On the other manus, some legislation proposes to rescind previous calls for a convention.

The volume of legislation introduced in state legislatures illustrates recent interest.

• 2011—78 bills or resolutions
• 2012—40 bills or resolutions
• 2013—62 bills or resolutions
• 2014—66 bills or resolutions
• 2015—65 bills or resolutions
• 2016—89 bills or resolutions
• 2017 (through July 12, 2017)—120 bills or resolutions

It is difficult to predict whether current efforts volition lead to a constitutional convention. And since an Article Five convention has never been held, questions are being raised near when and how this may happen:

• Does someone officially track convention applications?
• Has an official listing of the applications been created?
• What constitutes an official application by a state legislature?
• What is the proper procedure for enacting and submitting country legislative applications?
• Must the linguistic communication of the states' applications be identical?
• Must the applications be made be made within a specific or relatively close timeframe?
• May a legislature rescind its ain application?
• May a subsequent legislature rescind an awarding submitted by a previous legislature?
• May the scope of the convention be limited?
• May the state legislatures plant the scope limit within their calls? Or is that a congressional part?

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Source: https://www.ncsl.org/research/about-state-legislatures/amending-the-u-s-constitution.aspx

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