SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO AM) - The House State Affairs Committee today sent to the full body a joint resolution calling for South Dakota to join an Article 5 convention to adopt a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.
A Lobbyist with Concerned Women for America, Cindy Flackle says Article 5 does not provide for a convention limited to specific amendments.
Flackle says Article 5 does not outline the state voting requirements, or identify how delegates are to be selected or how many delagates every state will be apportioned.
She says more importantly, once a Constitutional convention is convened, it could be like opening Pandora's Box. She says the Constitution and the Bill of Rights become vulnerable to special interests and competing agendas.
Pierre resident Thomas King says there are redundant protections against a runaway convention. King says the scope of the authority of the convention is defined by the topic specified in the 34 applications that would trigger the convention.
He says any proposals beyond that scope would be out of order. King says state legislatures can recall any delegate, or delegates, who attempt to exceed their authority.
He says if the state legislatures fail to stop renegade delegates, or if a majority of the state's delegates vote to propose different amendments, courts could step in and declare the action void.
Kings say even if all protections failed, it would be unlikely that 38 states would ratify an amendment that all 38 did not like.