I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1742 

To require the Archivist of the United States to compile all applications, 

and rescissions of applications, made to the Congress to call a convention, 

pursuant to article V of the Constitution, and certain related materials, 

and to transmit them to Congress, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 27, 2017 

Mr. MESSER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Oversight 

and Government Reform, and Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To require the Archivist of the United States to compile 

all applications, and rescissions of applications, made 

to the Congress to call a convention, pursuant to article 

V of the Constitution, and certain related materials, and 

to transmit them to Congress, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Article V Records 

5 Transparency Act of 2017’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. COMPILATION AND TRANSMISSION TO CONGRESS 

2 OF APPLICATIONS AND RESCISSIONS OF AP3 PLICATIONS TO CALL A CONVENTION FOR 

4 PROPOSING AMENDMENTS TO THE CON5 STITUTION AND RESCISSIONS OF THOSE AP6 PLICATIONS. 

7 (a) COMPILATION AND TRANSMISSION.—The Archi8 vist of the United States (hereinafter in this Act referred 

9 to as the ‘‘Archivist’’) shall, in accordance with this Act— 

10 (1) make an organized compilation, to the ex11 tent feasible, of all applications and rescissions of 

12 applications, ever made by States under article V of 

13 the Constitution, to call a convention for proposing 

14 amendments to the Constitution; and 

15 (2) transmit to Congress and transmit to the 

16 chairmen of the Committees on the Judiciary of the 

17 House of Representatives and Senate that compila18 tion, together with both physical and electronic cop19 ies of each such application and rescission. 

20 (b) SOURCES FOR COMPILATION.—In complying with 

21 subsection (a) the Archivist shall use the records contained 

22 in the National Archive and Records Administration, and 

23 take other appropriate action, including using outside re24 sources, to obtain an official copy of any application or 

25 rescission that may not be in such records. 


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1 (c) TIMING OF TRANSMITTAL.—The Archivist shall 

2 transmit the compilation, containing all the known appli3 cations or rescissions according to the following schedule: 

Year After Enactment Applications and Rescissions 

Required to be Submitted 

1 Year after enactment ...................... Applications and rescissions 1970 

and later 

2 Years after enactment .................... Applications and rescissions 1920 

through 1969 

3 Years after enactment .................... Applications and rescissions 1870 

through 1919 

4 Years after enactment .................... Applications and rescissions 1820 

through 1869 

5 Years after enactment ................... Applications and rescissions before 

1820 

4 (d) REPORT ON EXTENT OF MISSING APPLICATIONS

5 OR RESCISSIONS.—The Archivist shall submit to Congress 

6 a report detailing the extent of suspected missing applica7 tions or rescissions not included in each compilation under 

8 subsection (c), to accompany each transmittal required 

9 under subsection (c). 

10 (e) CATALOGING APPLICATIONS.—The Archivist 

11 shall, in compiling the applications and rescissions, catalog 

12 them by year of submission and State, and include that 

13 information in the material transmitted to Congress. 

14 (f) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—Nothing contained within the 

15 transmittal required under subsection (a) or in the report 

16 required by subsection (b) shall be considered an official 


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1 source or designation of valid state applications and rescis2 sions under article V of the Constitution. 

3 SEC. 3. DUTIES OF THE COMMITTEES ON THE JUDICIARY. 

4 (a) DESIGNATION OF APPLICATIONS AND RESCIS5 SIONS.—Upon receipt by Congress of the compilation de6 scribed in section 2(a), the respective committees on the 

7 judiciary in each House of Congress shall designate the 

8 applications and rescissions contained in such compilation 

9 for public availability on a publicly accessible website not 

10 later than 6 months after receiving such compilation as 

11 required under section 2(c). 

12 (b) CONTINUING DESIGNATIONS OF APPLICATIONS

13 AND RESCISSIONS.—The respective committees on the ju14 diciary in each House of Congress shall update the com15 pilation in the public websites maintained by them under 

16 subsection (a) by designating the receipt of any applica17 tion or rescission submitted under article V of the Con18 stitution to call a convention for proposing amendments 

19 to the Constitution that— 

20 (1) was not included in the initial compilation 

21 as transmitted under section 2; and 

22 (2) is a new application or rescission or other23 wise comes to the attention of the committee. 


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1 SEC. 4. RECOMMENDED PROCEDURES FOR TRANSMISSION 

2 OF APPLICATIONS AND RESCISSIONS. 

3 The Congress recommends the following procedures 

4 to make uniform and simplify the process by which State 

5 legislatures make an application, or a rescission of an ap6 plication, under article V of the Constitution to call a con7 vention for proposing amendments to the Constitution: 

8 (1) OFFICERS TO TRANSMIT AND RECEIVE AP9 PLICATIONS.—After the adoption by the legislature 

10 of a State of an application or rescission, the sec11 retary of state of the State, or if there be no such 

12 officer, the person who is charged by the State law 

13 with such function, should submit to Congress at 

14 least two copies of the resolution or other measure 

15 containing the application or rescission, one copy ad16 dressed to the President of the Senate, and one copy 

17 to the Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

18 (2) CONTENTS OF RESOLUTION OR MEASURE.— 

19 Each copy of the resolution or measure should con20 tain— 

21 (A) its exact text, with the authenticating 

22 signature of the relevant officer of the legisla23 ture; and 

24 (B) the date on which the legislature 

25 adopted the resolution or measure. 


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1 (3) OTHER FORMS OF APPLICATION OR RECI2 SION.—If a State submits an application or rescis3 sion in a manner that is inconsistent with this sec4 tion, and the application or rescission does not have 

5 an authenticating signature of a member of the re6 spective states legislature, the Clerk of the House or 

7 the Secretary of the Senate shall confirm the au8 thenticity of the application or rescission through a 

9 search of public records. If unable to confirm 

10 through a public records search, the Clerk of the 

11 House or Secretary of the Senate shall notify the ap12 propriate State official and request a letter from 

13 that State official, with the authenticating signature 

14 of that State official, confirming the application or 

15 rescission’s authenticity. 

16 (4) NONCOMPLIANCE WITH THE RECOMMENDA17 TIONS OF THIS SECTION NOT A BASIS FOR CON18 GRESS TO REFUSE TO ACCEPT AN APPLICATION OR

19 RESCISSION.—The failure of a State legislature to 

20 comply with any of the procedures recommended in 

21 this section is not a basis for a refusal by Congress 

22 to accept or count an application or rescission. 


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1 SEC. 5. SAVINGS CLAUSE. 

2 Nothing in this Act shall be interpreted to expand 

3 in any way the specific, limited duties assigned to Con4 gress under article V of the Constitution. 

5 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

6 In this Act— 

7 (1) the terms ‘‘transmit to Congress’’ and ‘‘sub8 mit to Congress’’ mean transmission or submission, 

9 as the case may be, to the Speaker of the House of 

10 Representatives, the President of the Senate; 

11 (2) the term ‘‘application’’ means any resolu12 tion or other measure, agreed upon by a State legis13 lature, that purports to be a request to Congress to 

14 call a convention pursuant to article V of the Con15 stitution; and 

16 (3) the term ‘‘rescission’’ means any resolution 

17 or other measure, agreed upon by a State legisla18 ture, that purports to make null and void an appli19 cation previously submitted by the State legislature. 

20 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.. 

21 (a) FOR CARRYING OUT THIS ACT.—There are au22 thorized to be appropriated to the National Historical 

23 Publications and Records Commission $2,000,000 for the 

24 purposes of carrying out this act for each of the fiscal 

25 years 2018 through 2023. 


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1 (b) HISTORICAL RECORD GRANT PROGRAM.—Sec2 tion 2504(g)(1) of title 44, United States Code, is amend3 ed by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(T) $3,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 

5 2018 through 2023.’’. 

Æ 


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