natelson

<h2 style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" word-spacing="word-spacing" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" line-height="line-height" em="em" margin-top="margin-top" margin-bottom="margin-bottom"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></span></h2><h2 style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" word-spacing="word-spacing" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" line-height="line-height" em="em" margin-top="margin-top" margin-bottom="margin-bottom"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see const convention</font></span></h2><div><span style="font-weight: normal;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span></div><div><span style="font-weight: normal;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></span></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/constitutional-convention-conservatives-republicans-constitution-supreme-court-2022-7">https://www.businessinsider.com/constitutional-convention-conservatives-republicans-constitution-supreme-court-2022-7</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">simulation: <a href="https://conventionofstates.com/cos-simulation">COSAction (conventionofstates.com)</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">vids:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; line-height: 26px; outline: none; list-style: none; width: 791.65px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We know you are anxious to see the complete results, and we appreciate your patience. As an independent assembly, the statement about the final results from the Convention must come from the body, and not our organization. We will circulate it on behalf of the Convention.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; line-height: 26px; outline: none; list-style: none; width: 791.65px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Here's a quick preview. The Convention passed amendment proposals on the following six ideas:</font></p><ol style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 15px 20px; line-height: 20px; outline: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-image: initial;"><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 26px; outline: none; list-style: outside decimal; text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The public debt shall not be increased except upon a recorded vote of two-thirds of each house of Congress.</font></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 26px; outline: none; list-style: outside decimal; text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Term limits on Congress</font></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 26px; outline: none; list-style: outside decimal; text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Limiting federal overreach by returning the Commerce Clause to its original meaning</font></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 26px; outline: none; list-style: outside decimal; text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Limiting the power of federal regulations by giving an easy congressional override</font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 26px; outline: none; list-style: outside decimal; text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Require a super majority for federal taxes and </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">repeal the 16th Amendment [fed income tax?]</span></font></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 26px; outline: none; list-style: outside decimal; text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Give the states (by a 3/5ths vote) the power to abrogate any federal law, regulation or executive order.</font></li></ol><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 20px 20px 20px 25px; position: relative; text-align: justify; border-left: 5px solid rgb(21, 146, 219); background: rgba(204, 204, 204, 0.2); display: inline-block; margin: 0px 0px 25px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The events at Williamsburg will be remembered as a turning point in history. The spirit of liberty and self government has been reignited." Michael Farris - Co-Founder, Convention of States Project.</font></blockquote></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">----</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">not complete but most links</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">biz insider</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">common cause : <a href="https://www.commoncause.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/ConCon-Opposition-Letter-March-2019.pdf">ConCon-Opposition-Letter-March-2019.pdf (commoncause.org)</a></font></div><div><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px 10px; line-height: 1.3em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A convention is gaining momentum but still far away</font></span></h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So far, 19 GOP-controlled states, including four in 2022 alone (Nebraska, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Wisconsin), have passed applications and calls for a constitutional convention under the model pushed by the conservative nonprofit group Convention of States, an offshoot of <a href="https://selfgovern.com/" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="60" data-uri="9aca289ac60f6a59c10bebd85f0ecf69" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(9, 111, 250) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">Citizens for Self Governance</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">because of their efforts, "it's the first time any of these applications have had this much movement in quite some time," Viki Harrison, director of Constitutional Convention and Protecting Dissent Programs at Common Cause, told Insider. She called the passage of four new convention calls in states including South Carolina "a brutal loss." </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Citizens for Self Governance and Convention of States, led by former Tea Party activist and ex-Parler CEO Mark Meckler, are relatively newer and well-funded players on the scene with connections to wealthy and powerful conservative interests.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tax filings <a href="https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2020/02/25/radical-resolution-calling-constitutional-rewrite-passes-wisconsin-assembly/" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="60" data-uri="7a0f5a04e1ec36b6cc6c22815b143df9" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(9, 111, 250) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy</a> reveal the groups, which are not required to disclose their donors, have received millions from the Koch-connected DonorsTrust, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/15/robert-mercer-family-gave-nearly-20-million-to-dark-money-gop-fund-during-2020-election.html" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="60" data-uri="affa1dc09f6bfa53434c2c3bd2756ce8" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(9, 111, 250) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">the Mercer family,</a> and groups linked to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/06/30/1108351562/roe-abortion-supreme-court-scotus-law" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="60" data-uri="67cb67e1c473e323469db483d084981e" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(9, 111, 250) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">powerful conservative lawyer Leonard Leo</a>. <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22072448-convention-of-states-action-2020-financial-audit-report" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="60" data-uri="aebee8080e4d90662f8efb1b99e5e630" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(9, 111, 250) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">A 2020 internal audit</a> of Convention of States obtained by the group revealed that a $1.3 million donation made in Bitcoin made up 16% of the group's budget in 2019. Two donations totaling $2.5 million accounted for 36% of the group's 2020 budget....</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">so does Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, a staunch Trump defender who <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FAndy-Biggs%2Fdp%2F0984222316&amazonTrackingID=biauto-55443-20&site=bi&vikingID=62c72007f9954a5022223c15&platform=browser&sc=false&disabled=false&sessionID=1659364362365a1fe51p7&tag=bisafetynet2-20" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="80" rel="nofollow sponsored noindex" data-uri="2726803f707b50629c81a8178199597e" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(9, 111, 250) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">wrote an entire book</a>, "The Con of the Con-Con," about the dangers of conventions. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"In states where you would have expected this to pass because they have Republican leadership, they're firmly on our side because they're scared about losing guns," Harrison said. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Natelson, <a href="https://i2i.org/constitution/articles-books-by-rob-natelson/" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="80" data-uri="38faee571c05c1f808e8ca17cef02963" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(9, 111, 250) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">who has published numerous writings</a> and <a href="https://i2i.org/wp-content/uploads/CoS-Mystery-final.pdf" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="80" data-uri="72d63c356ba5b304840577572bda4498" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(9, 111, 250) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">academic articles on Article V</a>, charged that people who fear a runaway convention "don't know what they're talking about" and GOP legislatures that have resisted calling a convention out of those worries "have been sold a bill of goods." </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Those academics who go before the legislature and say things like, 'we don't know anything about the process, it could be a runaway convention' without exception, are people who have never published any scholarship on the subject," he said....</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">at the Convention of the States' <a href="https://conventionofstates.com/cos-simulation" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="80" data-uri="6c6f314c7b2befba06dbd7a38a41623e" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(9, 111, 250) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">2016 mock convention</a> in Williamsburg, Virginia, delegates, including Eastman, voted out six amendments, including a proposal that would eviscerate the 16th Amendment, which grants Congress the ability to impose an income tax. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The resolution the group is pushing would limit a convention to amendments that "impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, limit its power and jurisdiction, and impose term limits on its officials and members of Congress."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But limiting "the power and jurisdiction" of the federal government is an expansive mandate that could encompass virtually anything and enable delegates to pass extreme amendments while technically staying within the bounds of the convention....</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">R<a href="https://conventionofstates.com/news" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="80" data-uri="8f8c9aa7e9b75487ede9a17da2fe0e52" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">ecent blog posts</a> on the Convention of States' website explicitly reference the need for a convention to limit federal overreach on <a href="https://conventionofstates.com/news/should-the-federal-government-cover-travel-costs-for-women-seeking-abortions" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="80" data-uri="265fed1a2aa1b4673e13dfe4de4f2bca" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(9, 111, 250) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">abortion</a>, <a href="https://conventionofstates.com/news/gun-grabbing-doesn-t-work-chicago-shooter-wasn-t-stopped-by-suburb-s-assault-rifle-ban-gun-regulations" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="80" data-uri="3a435044c558766e56f5f05ee678ee10" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(9, 111, 250) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">guns</a>, and <a href="https://conventionofstates.com/news/biden-s-southern-border-now-the-most-deadly-land-crossing-in-world-un-study-finds" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="80" data-uri="7225302041bb7dd016ac5e8dc03a41de" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(9, 111, 250) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">immigration</a>. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/258/130" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="80" data-uri="130c050a2989701d4ca83aa8574b27d4" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(9, 111, 250) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">Supreme Court has said</a> that amending the Constitution <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1900-1940/307us433" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="80" data-uri="ee69a422c6b6eb6f8ed20380ca15b392" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(9, 111, 250) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">is a political question</a> in which the federal courts cannot get involved," Super said. "The president has no role at all in the process. And the whole point of the convention route is to sideline Congress. So Congress can't overrule the convention … there's no one to intervene. There's no one to stop a convention from doing whatever they want to do."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">States have the flexibility to caveat their calls for a convention, and some have included penalties to keep delegates in line. Indiana and Florida have even made it a felony for convention delegates to defy the legislature's intent, measures they passed alongside their pro-convention resolutions....</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Behind closed doors, Meckler, Santorum, and Natelson pitched a convention to GOP lawmakers gathered at a December 2021 ALEC workshop </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">as a way for ordinary citizens to force sweeping changes to every facet of government. </span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We would be aiming at the Deep State and potentially the federal judiciary as well," Meckler told lawmakers in the closed-door session, a recording of which was <a href="https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2021/12/21/the-right-is-trying-to-rewrite-the-constitution-to-cement-minority-rule-forever/" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="100" data-uri="f548761ca5dfaf6ae0752413dae8afe4" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(9, 111, 250) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">obtained by</a> the Center for Media and Democracy and shared with Insider. ...</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">moments later, Meckler said his effort could be judged by its "enemies," <a href="https://www.commoncause.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/ConCon-Opposition-Letter-March-2019.pdf" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="100" data-uri="5174cc3e4a753c7ad5b64a7e133a34e2" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(9, 111, 250) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">railing against a slew of "leftist" advocacy groups</a> who oppose a convention.  </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"It's every leftist group in America, radical leftist group in America that stands for, I would argue, the destruction of America, the destruction of babies in the womb, the destruction of life itself," he said. "They hate America, they want to destroy America, and they're against Convention of States."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Santorum also assured lawmakers that conservative interests would be strongly represented in a one-vote-per-state convention due to the outsize influence of lower-population states, saying, "we have the opportunity, as a result of that, to have a supermajority, even though…we may not even be in an absolute majority when it comes to the people who we agree with."....</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><h2 style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" word-spacing="word-spacing" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" line-height="line-height" em="em" margin-top="margin-top" margin-bottom="margin-bottom"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></span></h2><h2 style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" word-spacing="word-spacing" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" line-height="line-height" em="em" margin-top="margin-top" margin-bottom="margin-bottom"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Special Program to Work on Radical Rewrite of U.S. Constitution</font></span></h2><p style="margin: 1.5em 0px; font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" word-spacing="word-spacing" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">ALEC is extending its conference well into the evening on Friday this year to hold an "interactive academy" on rewriting the U.S. Constitution</span>. Attendees will "learn how an Article V amendments convention will actually play out," and "cast their ballots to decide which ideas to pursue," an <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21018436-alec-academy-article-v-and-bba-tickets-fri-jul-30-2021" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-shadow: rgb(204, 51, 51) 0px 3px 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s;">invite</a> obtained by CMD details.</font></p><p style="margin: 1.5em 0px; font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" word-spacing="word-spacing" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of the goals of the tutorial appears to be to convince lawmakers that a runaway convention can be prevented, despite expert opinions that this is impossible.</font></b></p><p style="margin: 1.5em 0px; font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" word-spacing="word-spacing" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">"Once you have the convention, it is subject to nobody's control," Georgetown University Law Professor David Super <a href="https://apnews.com/article/wisconsin-constitutions-scott-walker-politics-business-0079f922a810f82336a64b4ac6a3a214" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-shadow: rgb(204, 51, 51) 0px 3px 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s;">told</a> the AP. "It makes its own agenda. It makes its own voting rules that decides how long it lasts and how far it goes</span>."</font></p><p style="margin: 1.5em 0px; font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" word-spacing="word-spacing" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>At the 2020 Annual Meeting, former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) <a href="https://apnews.com/article/wisconsin-constitutions-scott-walker-politics-business-0079f922a810f82336a64b4ac6a3a214" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-shadow: rgb(204, 51, 51) 0px 3px 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s;">detailed</a> a legal strategy to force a convention to rewrite the nation's founding document even though at the time only 28 of 34 states needed had resolutions calling for one pending</b>. </font></p><p style="margin: 1.5em 0px; font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" word-spacing="word-spacing" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Former State Rep. Ken Ivory (R-UT) will moderate the event, while<b> U.S. Rep. Yvette Herrell, </b>Prof. Robert Natelson, David Biddulph, former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker, and Dr. Barry Poulson will present.</font></p><p style="margin: 1.5em 0px; font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" word-spacing="word-spacing" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC is already pushing constitutional convention calls for a balanced budget amendment and sweeping new limits on federal powers, but meeting attendees will also have the opportunity to consider <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">a newly proposed convention call for a package of tax and fiscal reforms, including "abolishing the existing Internal Revenue Code," called the <a href="https://www.alec.org/model-policy/application-under-article-v-of-the-u-s-constitution-to-propose-an-amendment-to-require-fiscal-limitations-and-accountability-for-the-legislative-and-executive-branches-of-the-national-government/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-shadow: rgb(204, 51, 51) 0px 3px 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s;">Application Under Article V of the U.S. Constitution to Propose an Amendment to Require Fiscal Limitations and Accountability for the Legislative and Executive Branches of the National Government</a>. </span></font></p><p style="margin: 1.5em 0px; font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" word-spacing="word-spacing" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The model application also seeks to combine the states that pass it with other balanced budget amendment convention calls in an attempt to reach the 34 states needed to convene a constitutional convention.</font></p><h2 style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" word-spacing="word-spacing" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" line-height="line-height" em="em" margin-top="margin-top" margin-bottom="margin-bottom"><strong><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Protecting Fossil Fuel Interests and Other Climate Harming Measures</font></strong></h2><p style="margin: 1.5em 0px; font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" word-spacing="word-spacing" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC politicians will once again consider model bills to protect fossil fuel interests and polluters.</font></p><p style="margin: 1.5em 0px; font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" word-spacing="word-spacing" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Meeting attendees will debate a number of <b>policies framed around ending "energy discrimination." </b>The radical <a href="https://www.alec.org/model-policy/energy-discrimination-elimination-act/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-shadow: rgb(204, 51, 51) 0px 3px 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s;">Energy Discrimination Elimination Act</a> would punish financial institutions and other companies that cease to do business with fossil fuel companies by barring the state from investing in them and denying them state business. The policy also includes an anti-boycott measure which prohibits government contractors from boycotting energy companies, even asking for "written verification" from companies stating that they "will not boycott energy companies during the term of the contract."</font></p><p style="margin: 1.5em 0px; font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" word-spacing="word-spacing" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This model, as well as the <a href="https://www.alec.org/model-policy/affordable-abundant-reliable-electricity-act/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-shadow: rgb(204, 51, 51) 0px 3px 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s;">Affordable, Abundant, Reliable Electricity Act</a>, which seeks to protect all energy producers in the name of maintaining a reliable electrical grid, are being lobbied for by Randy Eminger, executive director of the Energy Policy Network,</span> an <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21018441-alec-model-bills-supporting-coal-based-power-email-from-coal-lobbyist-june-24-2021" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-shadow: rgb(204, 51, 51) 0px 3px 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s;">email</a> obtained by CMD details.</font></p><p style="margin: 1.5em 0px; font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" word-spacing="word-spacing" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">An advocate for "clean coal,"</span> Eminger describes his mission at Energy Policy Network as, "to support the continued use of coal-fueled power," in the email, and notes that "four other comrades from the industry" will be at the ALEC conference as well.</font></p><p style="margin: 1.5em 0px; font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" word-spacing="word-spacing" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">In keeping with ALEC's <a href="https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2018/07/12/alec-extreme-exxon-long-term-alec-board-member-dumps-alec-climate-denial-policy%e2%80%8b/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-shadow: rgb(204, 51, 51) 0px 3px 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s;">climate-denial history</a> and pay-to-play work for fossil fuel giants, ALEC lawmakers will also vote on resolutions to <a href="https://www.alec.org/model-policy/resolution-supporting-reliable-and-affordable-energy/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-shadow: rgb(204, 51, 51) 0px 3px 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s;">oppose any government action to reduce carbon dioxide emissions</a>, and <a href="https://www.alec.org/model-policy/resolution-to-protect-market-access-for-all-electricity-generators/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-shadow: rgb(204, 51, 51) 0px 3px 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s;">oppose any restrictions on the use of fossil fuels to produce electricity</a>.</font></p><p style="margin: 1.5em 0px; font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" word-spacing="word-spacing" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Indeed, ALEC is even proposing a model bill, the <a href="https://www.alec.org/model-policy/safeguarding-greenhouse-gas-regulatory-authority-act/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-shadow: rgb(204, 51, 51) 0px 3px 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s;">Safeguarding Greenhouse Gas Regulatory Authority Act</a>, to bar any state agency from regulating greenhouse gas emissions or entering into any regional compact without "specific legislative authorization.”</span> </font></p><p style="margin: 1.5em 0px; font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" word-spacing="word-spacing" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">The <a href="https://www.alec.org/model-policy/resolution-urging-states-to-establish-electric-vehicle-charging-stations-as-a-competitive-market-free-from-utility-commission-regulation/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-shadow: rgb(204, 51, 51) 0px 3px 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s;">Resolution Urging States to Establish<b> Electric Vehicle</b> Charging Stations as a Competitive Market Free From Utility Commission Regulation</a> urges state utility commissions to forbid "regulated utilities from using electric customer funds to build its own fleet of electric charging stations," thereby removing crucial funds to expand the infrastructure a larger fleet of electric cars will need in the future. This will have the intended consequence of forcing people to continue driving gas-guzzling vehicles for longer than necessary.</font></p><p style="margin: 1.5em 0px; font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" word-spacing="word-spacing" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">ALEC is also introducing another preemption model bill around plastics, the <a href="https://www.alec.org/model-policy/act-to-establish-statewide-uniformity-for-essential-plastic-regulations/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-shadow: rgb(204, 51, 51) 0px 3px 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s;">Act to Establish Statewide Uniformity for Essential Plastic Regulations</a>. Spun as a policy to ensure "essential" plastic products are available, the proposed bill would bar municipalities from banning or taxing plastic food wrappers and plastic water bottles.</span> The measure follows a 2015 <b>American City County Exchange</b> (an ALEC offshoot) <a href="https://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/03/13060/barring-plastic-bag-bans-another-alec-bill-takes-aim-local-democracy" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-shadow: rgb(204, 51, 51) 0px 3px 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s;">resolution</a> that calls on local government not to regulate many <b>single-use products, </b>including, "reusable bags, disposable bags, boxes, cups, and bottles that are made of cloth, paper, plastic, extruded polystyrene, or similar materials."</font></p><h2 style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" word-spacing="word-spacing" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" line-height="line-height" em="em" margin-top="margin-top" margin-bottom="margin-bottom"><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Regulating Big Tech?</font></strong></h2>