The Alaska House of Representatives is again recommending Alaska join a convention to revise the U.S. Constitution.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, lawmakers spent nearly 90 minutes debating the merits of a convention to approve a Constitutional amendment allowing states to \u201ccountermand\u201d (veto) federal legislation or court decisions.<\/p>\n
After the debate, the House voted 24-15 and 25-14 to approve resolutions calling for the state to join the convention and setting rules for the state\u2019s delegates to the convention.<\/p>\n
The resolutions were led by Rep. Shelley Hughes, R-Palmer. Among the cosponsors of the resolutions was Rep. Cathy Mu\u00f1oz, R-Juneau.<\/p>\n
The resolutions now go to the Senate for consideration.<\/p>\n
Under Article V of the U.S. Constitution, a convention to propose constitutional amendments can be held if two-thirds (34) of the states request one. This process has never been used \u2500 all 27 of the existing Constitutional amendments were first proposed in Congress and ratified by the states.<\/p>\n
In 2014, the Legislature passed a resolution calling for an Article V convention to \u201cimpose fiscal restraints on the federal government, limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, and limit the terms of office of federal government officials.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tennessee, Alabama, Florida and Georgia have also requested Article V conventions on that topic, according to a list kept by the chief clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives.<\/p>\n
Article V petitions are subject-limited, meaning 34 states must request a convention on the same topic. The requests never expire \u2500 the House of Representatives list was recently added to include one from Kansas, passed in 1978.<\/p>\n
No state has yet requested a convention to propose a countermand amendment, according to the House of Representatives list. <\/p>\n
Speaking on the House floor before the vote, Hughes said, \u201cThis is not being brought forward because I think the federal government is the enemy. … It is because the balance has tipped and the pendulum has swung.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hughes said the pair of resolutions are designed to prevent a \u201crunaway convention\u201d that would address many issues, and Alaska\u2019s intent is to just address the countermand amendment.<\/p>\n
If enacted as the 28th Amendment, 30 states would have to pass resolutions countermanding a specific action. There would be an 18-month time limit. If that time elapsed without enough signatures, the countermand would not happen. <\/p>\n
Hughes said she believes just the threat of a countermand might be enough to get Congress to reconsider a particular decision, and she does not expect the countermand would be used often if it were an option.<\/p>\n
Most members of the Democratic-led House minority opposed the resolutions, as did Rep. Lora Reinbold, R-Eagle River.<\/p>\n
Reinbold, noted for her drive to fight federal overreach, said she thinks the countermand movement is well-intentioned but misguided.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do believe that it puts the Constitution at risk,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you want changes in Congress, you\u2019ve got to change who\u2019s in Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nSchool testing hiatus<\/strong><\/p>\n In other business, the House voted 22-17 to approve House Bill 156, which permits Alaska school districts to suspend their standardized testing programs for the next two years.<\/p>\n Rep. Wes Keller, R-Wasilla and the bill\u2019s lead sponsor, said the measure is designed to \u201ctake a breather\u201d after the failure of the Alaska Measures of Progress exam.<\/p>\n Designed over three years and intended to be Alaska\u2019s answer to the national requirement for a standardized test to gauge students\u2019 progress, AMP was an abysmal failure. Last year, in the first year of tests, results were delayed and incomplete, providing results that didn\u2019t give administrators the data they wanted.<\/p>\n This year, a fiber-optic cable near the Kansas testing center was severed just as Alaska students were preparing to take their computerized AMP exams. The disruption was so great that the state first postponed, then cancelled all AMP testing.<\/p>\n \u201cWe rushed to develop a state-only assessment and what we\u2019ve had is two years of debacle,\u201d said Rep. Jim Colver, R-Palmer, speaking in favor of the bill.<\/p>\n Opponents of the bill warned that without a federally approved testing system, the state is at risk of losing millions of dollars in federal funding contingent upon having a testing system.<\/p>\n \u201cThis state will lose almost $100 million in federal funding if we pass this bill,\u201d said Rep. Scott Kawasaki, D-Fairbanks.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think the threat is nearly as big as we think it is,\u201d Keller responded, saying that the federal government will give the state time to return to compliance, time in which districts can come up with a solution that can work locally.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s take a break here and look and review \u2026 our accountability and assessment laws,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n HB 156 now goes to the Senate for consideration.<\/p>\n Car seat installers protected<\/strong><\/p>\n The House also voted 39-0 on Sunday to shield child car-seat installers from civil lawsuits. Fire departments, police departments and hospitals across Alaska offer programs to install child safety seats \u2500 booster seats and car seats \u2500 for parents who may not be familiar with them.<\/p>\n House Bill 308, brought by Rep. Charisse Millett, R-Anchorage and Majority Leader, legally shields volunteers in those programs if they have passed training programs to install seats correctly.<\/p>\n The bill also requires car seats for children from 1 to 4 years old, instead of 1 to 5 years old. Booster seats are still required for children between 4 and 8 years old who are not big enough for regular seatbelts.<\/p>\n HB 308 heads to the Senate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Alaska House of Representatives is again recommending Alaska join a convention to revise the U.S. Constitution. On Sunday, lawmakers spent nearly 90 minutes debating the merits of a convention to approve a Constitutional amendment allowing states to \u201ccountermand\u201d (veto) federal legislation or court decisions. After the debate, the House voted 24-15 and 25-14 to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":426,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[75],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-29527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/426"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29527\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29527"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=29527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}