34 States Can Bypass Congress to Propose a Congressional Term Limits Amendment!
The U.S. Constitution provides the state legislatures authority to propose amendments without the approval of Congress. To make it happen, 34 state legislatures must pass resolutions to call a convention for the states to propose a congressional term limits amendment.
Now, here is where it gets a bit complicated. The states don’t always pass the exact same application. So, today there are five state legislatures that have passed the U.S. Term Limits (USTL) single-subject application for congressional term limits, and there are 14 that have passed applications for multiple subjects that include congressional term limits. While we are a single-issue organization, it is possible that the term limits portion of the multiple subject applications may potentially aggregate with our application for a single subject term limits convention bringing us to a total of 19 states.
So Where do We Stand Now?
Five states, Florida, Alabama, Missouri, West Virginia, and Wisconsin have passed USTL’s applications specific to the single subject congressional term limits. Fourteen states (indicated as medium blue on the map) have passed congressional term limits specific language as part of a multi-subject application. To eliminate all legal uncertainly and positively impose term limits on the U.S. House and Senate, USTL is fighting to pass our single-subject congressional term limits application in 34 states.
To date, we have passed chambers in Utah, Georgia, Arizona, Tennessee, and North Carolina, in addition to the states we passed completely (Florida, Alabama, Missouri, West Virginia and Wisconsin). In 2022, we have introduced resolutions in at least 17 states and passed through many more committees. To see which single subject term limits resolutions are currently actively progressing in states, visit our TAKE ACTION page.
One thing is clear. The individual states understand their role balancing power as the fourth branch of government. They understand their obligation and are taking action to impose term limits on Congress. Every day we are one step closer to our goal!
