what are 2 ways to make amendments to the constitution

[LegisBrief] Amending the U.S. Constitution

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

Current efforts by some state legislatures and other groups to better the U.South. Constitution have brought forth questions about the procedure for doing so. The Founding Fathers, in crafting the Constitution, believed information technology should not exist easy to ameliorate the nation'due south founding document and principles.

Authority to Ameliorate the U.S. Constitution

Article Five of the United States Constitution outlines basic procedures for constitutional subpoena.

1. Congress may submit a proposed ramble amendment to the states, if the proposed subpoena language is approved by a two-thirds vote of both houses.
2. Congress must phone call a convention for proposing amendments upon awarding of the legislatures of two-thirds of the states (i.east., 34 of 50 states).
3. Amendments proposed by Congress or convention go valid just when ratified by the legislatures of, or conventions in, iii-fourths of the states (i.e., 38 of 50 states).

Amendments Proposed by Congress

To appointment, Congress has submitted 33 subpoena proposals to the states, 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 information technology was kickoff submitted to u.s.a..

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

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

Pace 2. Notification of the states. The national archivist sends notification and materials to the governor of each land.

Step 3. Ratification past three-fourths of the states. Ratification of the amendment language adopted by Congress is an up-or-down vote in each legislative chamber. A state legislature cannot change the language. If it does, its ratification is invalid. A governor'due south signature on the ratification bill or resolution is not necessary.

Pace 4. Tracking state actions. Proposed amendments must be ratified by three-fourths of the states in guild to take result. Congress may set a time limit for state action. The official count is kept by Part of the Federal Annals at the National Archives. Legislatures must return specific materials to show proof of ratification.

Step five. Announcement. When the requisite number of states ratify a proposed amendment, the archivist of the United States proclaims it as a new subpoena to the U.S. Constitution. Bodily certification is published immediately in the Federal Register and eventually in the United states of america Statutes-at-Large.

Country legislatures often phone call upon Congress to propose constitutional amendments. While these calls may bring some political pressure to behave, Congress is nether no constitutional obligation to answer. The U.S. Constitution does non contain a provision requiring Congress to submit a proposed subpoena upon request by some requisite number of states.

Subpoena past Constitutional Convention

In addition to constitutional amendments proposed past Congress, states have the option of petitioning Congress to call a constitutional convention. Legislatures in 2-thirds of states must agree, however. While the convention procedure has all the same to be triggered, efforts to do and then are not new. In fact, they may be "as former as the republic." Unofficial sources report convention applications being filed equally early on as 1789.

Involvement in a U.Due south. ramble convention has peaked and waned several times over the decades. In the early 1900s, direct election of senators was a hot topic. In the 1940s and 1950s, federal taxing power was the focus of many applications. Two issues came shut to triggering conventions during the 1960s to 1990s—apportionment and a balanced federal budget.

The current wave of interest began around 2010. Its focus is not a single issue nor is it being driven by one arrangement. Various groups are pushing their viewpoints—be they conservative, liberal, populist or progressive—and are urging action. On the ane manus, legislation calls for a convention on a broad array of topics, such equally limiting authority of the federal regime, balanced federal upkeep, 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 ramble convention. And since an Article V convention has never been held, questions are being raised about when and how this may happen:

• Does someone officially track convention applications?
• Has an official list of the applications been created?
• What constitutes an official awarding by a state legislature?
• What is the proper procedure for enacting and submitting state legislative applications?
• Must the language of the states' applications exist identical?
• Must the applications be made exist fabricated within a specific or relatively shut timeframe?
• May a legislature rescind its own application?
• May a subsequent legislature rescind an application submitted by a previous legislature?
• May the telescopic of the convention be limited?
• May the state legislatures establish the scope limit within their calls? Or is that a congressional function?

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

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