[betty boop]

The 4 applications for the Levin/ALEC effort are not being aggregated with the 28 applications for a convention for a balanced budget amendment, even though there is a certain commonality of language. The Archivist is tabulating these two efforts in two separate columns.

Whatta surprise.

But I am very heartened by this:

The good news is that if the Levin/ALEC effort eventually gets 34 states to apply, the resulting convention would be authorized to discuss a balanced budget amendment as part of the "fiscal restraint" clause of the Georgia application. The "power and jurisdiction" clause would open up amendments to establish a procedure for state nullification, trim the ability of unelected bureaucrats and judges to write law, and remove the 17th Amendment. The "term limits" clause speaks for itself.

Well, it seems to me all those states applying for a COS geared toward proposing a balanced-budget amendment might do best by rescinding their narrowly-focused original applications, and get on-board with the Levin/ALEC effort. The latter, if successful, would certainly address their balanced-budget concerns.

Plus it would give them the chance to weigh in on the other principal matters of the Levin/ALEC proposal: (1) remediating profound distortions in the distribution of "power and jurisdiction" of the federal v. state governments (definitely including the courts), so drastically departed from the Framers' Constitution; (2) term limits of federal office-holders, whether elected or appointed; (3) repeal of the Seventeenth Amendment, which relates to (1).

Thank you ever so much, dear Publius, for yet another illuminating essay/post!

[Publius]

Concerning those 28 applications for a convention to consider a balanced budget amendment: It does no harm for them to sit out there. It does not preclude a state from applying for a convention using Georgia's language.

If you check the COS website, you'll find that applications using Georgia's language have been introduced in the legislatures of "X" states. In "Y" states the application has passed one house of the legislature. In 4 states, the application has passed both houses and has been transmitted to the Archivist for tabulation: Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Alaska.