FLORIDA TERM LIMITS BLOG: ACTION ALERT: LPF urging passage of Term Limits Convention bills

Monday, November 2, 2015

ACTION ALERT: LPF urging passage of Term Limits Convention bills

Joining the grass roots clamor for a Congressional term limits amendment, the Libertarian Party of Florida on Nov. 1 called on the Florida legislature to make an official application under Article V of the U.S. Constitution for a Term Limits Convention.

"Term limits have been deemed necessary since incumbents have a lopsided advantage, the general population favors term limits as it limits federal power and encourages new perspectives from citizen legislators who are not career politicians," wrote Stacey Selleck in a brief to the LPF board. "We must start taking our place in the role of the government of the people, by the people and for the people -- not a government of career politicians."

The six-page brief summarized the arguments for term limits and also for the specific method of enacting them, the Article V convention route for Constitutional amendments.

"Since the Congress will not impose limits on itself, and the states may not limit the term of their own representatives, the only path to codifying term limits into law is through proposing a Constitutional Amendment via a convention of states for the sole purpose of enacting term limits on U.S. Senators and members of the House of Representatives," Selleck wrote. "[This is] a right, provided to us by the framers in Article V of the Constitution, designed to remedy federal abuse."

SM630 and HM 417 are official applications for an amendment convention under Article V of the U.S. Constitution explicitly limited to Congressional term limits. If two-thirds of the states (34) call for such a convention, Article V states that Congress 'shall' convene it. There, delegates from all the states will craft a Congressional term limits amendment proposal that would be submitted to the states for ratification. If three-quarters (38) of the states do so, Congressional term limits will be added to the U.S. Constitution.

Click on each Senator's name below to send them an email expressing your support for Congressional term limits and urging them to support SM630. Look for the Email This Senator radio button in the left-hand column on the webpage or the Contact bar if you are on your phone.