Source: https://cusdi.org/faq/can-state-initiative-call-article-v-convention/
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 00:29:17+00:00

Document:
NAVIGATION: Home » Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) » Can a State Initiative Call for an Article V Convention?
Can a State Initiative Call for an Article V Convention?
A Washington State Initiative can call for an Article V Constitutional Convention of the States to amend the United States Constitution. References for other States or later interpretations of the issues have not yet emerged. Washington State permits a Direct Legislative State Initiative.
An initiative, under Article II, § 1 of the Washington Constitution, may be used for the purpose of applying to the federal Congress to call a convention for proposing amendments to the United States Constitution in accordance with Article V thereof.
May an initiative, under Article II, § 1 of the Washington Constitution, be used for the purpose of applying to the federal Congress to call a convention for proposing amendments to the United States Constitution?
We answer the foregoing question in the affirmative.
“The legislative authority of the state of Washington shall be vested in the legislature, consisting of a senate and house of representatives, which shall be called the legislature of the state of Washington, but the people reserve to themselves the power to propose bills, laws, and to enact or reject the same at the polls, independent of the legislature, and also reserve power, at their own option, to approve or reject at the polls any act, item, section or part of any bill, act or law passed by the legislature.
Our research has disclosed no cases dealing with the use of an initiative in the performance of a legislative function relating to the federal constitution’s amendatory process. We have, however, a case squarely in point insofar as the availability of a referendum in that general context is concerned; namely, State ex rel. Mullen v. Howell, 107 Wash. 167, 181 Pac. 920 (1919).
“It is provided in the Federal constitution that proposed amendments shall be ratified by the legislatures of the states or by conventions assembled for the purpose of considering them. It cannot be urged successfully that the framers of the constitution used the words ‘legislatures’ and ‘conventions’ as terms describing then present institutions, for it is well known that, at the time the constitution was adopted, some of the states did not have legislative assemblies.
See,State ex rel. Schrader v. Polley, 26 S.D. 5, 127 N.W. 848 (1910) at pages 11-12.
In our opinion this same reasoning is equally applicable to the use of an initiative‑-as a form of legislative action under Article II, § 1 (Amendment 7),supra‑-to carry an application by the State of Washington to the United States Constitution for the [[Orig. Op. Page 5]] convening of a federal constitutional convention. We would, therefore, prepare an official ballot title for such an initiative should it be presented to us for that purpose in accordance with the applicable procedures set forth in RCW 29.79.040, et seq.1/ We trust that the foregoing will be of assistance to you.
1/In the past, this office has declined to process, and prepare ballot titles for, initiatives which merely proposed to memorialize the United States Congress to take action on subjects over which the Congress, itself, has complete discretion‑-on the ground that such initiatives would be of no legal force or effect under the provisions of the United States Constitution relating to congressional action. Cf., State ex rel. Mullen v. Howell, supra. We would, however, distinguish those instances from the subject of your present inquiry because of the legal force and effect of state legislative action, on the Congress, of an application submitted pursuant to Article V of the United States Constitution, supra.

References: § 1
 § 1
 v. 
 v. 
 § 1
 v.