IA
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. J. RES. 21
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States with
respect to the proposal and the enactment of laws by popular vote
of the people of the United States.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 7, 1997
Mr. SOLOMON introduced the following joint resolution; which was referred to
the Committee on the Judiciary
JOINT RESOLUTION
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United
States with respect to the proposal and the enactment
of laws by popular vote of the people of the United
States.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America in Congress assembled
(two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the fol-
lowing article is proposed as an amendment to the Con-
stitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all
intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when
ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several
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States within seven years after the date of its submission
for ratification:
‘‘ARTICLE —
‘‘SECTION 1. The people of the United States shall
have the power to propose and enact laws in accordance
with this article, except with respect to carrying out the
powers granted to Congress in the 11th and 15th clauses
of article I, section 8, of this Constitution. This article
does not grant the people of the United States the power
to propose amendments to this Constitution.
‘‘SECTION 2. A law may be proposed by presenting
to the President a petition that sets forth the text of the
proposed law and contains signatures, collected within the
eighteen months prior to such presentation, of registered
voters equal in number to 3 percent of the ballots cast
in the last general election for President, and which in-
cludes the signatures of registered voters in each of one-
fourth of the States equal in number to 3 percent of the
ballots cast in the last general election for President in
each such State. Within ninety days after such presen-
tation, the President shall determine the validity of the
signatures contained in such petition through consultation
with the appropriate States. Upon a determination that
such petition contains the required number of valid signa-
tures, he shall certify such petition. He shall then direct
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that the proposed law be placed on the ballot at the next
general election held for choosing Members of the House
of Representatives occurring at least one hundred and
twenty days after such certification. The Congress shall
provide by law reasonable procedures for the preparation
and transmittal of such petitions, and for the certification
of signatures on such petitions. For the purposes of this
section, the term ‘State’ shall include the District of Co-
lumbia.
‘‘SECTION 3. A proposed law shall be enacted upon
receiving a majority of the number of electoral votes. For
purposes of this section, each State shall have a number
of electoral votes equal to the number of Senators and
Representatives to which such State is entitled in the Con-
gress. The District of Columbia shall have a number of
electoral votes equal to the number of Senators and Rep-
resentatives to which it would be entitled in the Congress
if it were a State, but in no event more than the number
of electoral votes of the least populous State. A proposed
law shall receive a proportion of the number of electoral
votes of each State equal to the proportion of the ballots
cast in such State with respect to such proposed law that
were cast for approval of such proposed law. In making
the computation, fractional numbers less than one-one-
thousandth shall be disregarded.
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‘‘SECTION 4. Any law enacted pursuant to this article
shall be a law the same as any other law of the United
States, except that any law to repeal or amend a law en-
acted pursuant to this article during the 2 years imme-
diately following its effective date must receive an affirma-
tive rollcall vote of two-thirds of the Members of each
House duly elected and sworn. No law, the enactment of
which is forbidden the Congress by this Constitution or
any amendment thereof, may be enacted by the people
under this article.
‘‘SECTION 5. The Congress and the people shall have
the power to enforce this article by appropriate legisla-
tion.’’.
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