This document proposes a framework for the participation, management and selection of convention participants and process to be used for the Second Constitutional Convention (hereafter described as Convention II) as well as provides a brief background of the participant make up of the original Constitutional Convention.
Background:
The original Constitution Convention was comprised of 55 members representing 12 of the original 13 states (Rhode Island sent no delegates), with 39 of those 55 members eventually signing the finished document. The assembled Constitution Convention delegates selected George Washington to be the chairman of the convention deliberations.
Convention II Participants:
We propose that we build on the wisdom of the Founding Fathers, and have the Convention II participation based on the number of each state’s congressional membership, which is the basis for the distribution of Electoral College votes among the states. A direct application of this approach would result in a Convention II body of 535 members which, in all likelihood would result in an unwieldy body, too large to manage and have useful debate. Therefore, we propose that each state’s Convention II membership be one half of its congressional membership, always rounding up to the next whole person. This approach would result in a Convention II body of approximately 270 individuals which we believe large enough to be comprehensive and small enough to be effective.
Article V of the United States Constitution provides no details regarding who the participants can or should be, stating only that the Congress shall call a convention by “the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states.” However, we believe we should follow the general path provided by Article V, and have the Convention II participants selected from among the elected state legislators, by the state legislators.
Convention II Management:
We believe the Convention II should be managed by a Convention Chairperson who would be responsible to open and adjourn all Convention II sessions, ensure agreed Convention II processes are followed, tally any votes, and ensure the Convention II proceedings are properly recorded. The Convention II Chairperson would have no voting authority, would not participate in the deliberations, but would ensure that agreed Convention II processes are followed and would propose new processes to make the Convention II proceedings more efficient and effective. All proposals offered by the Convention II Chairperson would be subject to the approval of the full Convention II body.
Since the Convention II Chairperson will have no voting authority, and be primarily charged with managing the administrative processes of the convention, we propose that a former Speaker of the House, former Senate President Pro Tempore, lieutenant state governor or former Vice President be selected since these roles have experience in managing large legislative bodies.
Convention II Participant Selection:
The participants in the First Constitutional Convention were generally leaders of their day recognized for their judgment, personal integrity, education and commitment to the cause of establishing a more effective United States government. We believe these same standards be applied to the participant choices for Convention II adding only that “education” includes knowledge of the United States Constitution and the Founder’s intent. The state legislatures should select Convention II participants from among themselves using the above standards without regard to party or their legislative position.
Convention II Chairperson Selection:
The Convention II Chairperson should be selected by majority vote of the Convention II participants in advance of the first actual Convention II session through a pre-convention Administrative Session described more thoroughly below.
Convention II Process:
The administrative rules of Convention II and the Convention II Chairperson selection should be developed and completed through a pre-convention Administrative Session. This Administrative Session should have the full participation of all selected Convention II participants and be lead by the current United States Senate President Pro Tempore. The role of the Senate President Pro Tempore will be a non-voting role limited solely to managing the deliberations of the full Administrative Session body to: 1) Select a Convention II Chairperson and two alternates; 2) Adopt administrative rules as needed to enable the Convention II to complete its work; 3) Agree on a date and location where the Convention II will begin.
The Administrative Session should be complete and adjourned six months in advance of the actual Convention II to allow the Convention II Chairperson to consider, accept and prepare for the Convention II work as well as allow time for Convention II participants to gather input from their constituents regarding issues to be considered by the full Convention II body.
