Fwd: Hearing follow-up for We the People Act

[We the People Massachusetts/North Shore]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Lee Ketelsen <leed...@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Nov 2, 2015 at 7:35 PM
Subject: Hearing follow-up for We the People Act
To: Lee Ketelsen <leed...@gmail.com>

Hello everyone who came (or wanted to come) to the We the People Act Hearing and Lobby day!

I think we were very successful in showing widespread and passionate support from citizens for passage of the We the People Act! What did you think?

(Some of you were unable to attend, but we did video tape the testimony at the hearing, and hope to have much of it accessible to be viewed.)

Thanks to so many of you who gave awesome testimony!! Thanks to everyone who attended and showed support!  We had some great experts, allies, and special constituencies who made very important statements also.

WHAT happens next?

The two Chairs of the Veterans and Federal Affairs (VFA) Committee, Sen. Mike Rush (who chaired the hearing) and Rep. Jerry Parisella (who sat next to him and asked some questions) have the most power to decide what happens next to the bill. And they have until March 2017 to take action on the bill, but could do it much sooner. They can stop the bill (usually by sending to "study",) change the bill language before taking action, or give a favorable report to the bill to move it forward.

The lead sponsors of the We the People Act (H 3127), Sen. Eldridge and Rep. Atkins will soon ask the two VFA Committee Chairs for their thoughts on what they want to do.

Most of you are active in a chapter of We the People Massachusetts, and each chapter has a representative on our Legislative Campaign Team. The best way to learn the details of what is happening next is to keep in touch through your chapter.  If you are not in a chapter, let me know and we can figure out how you can be kept informed.

There is much we can all do to continue to build support in the citizenry and the legislature for our bill!  Please keep active through your chapter!

Opposition: Concerns about the call for an amendment convention

The only opposition voiced at the hearing to H 3127 came from individuals who are opposed to a petition for an Article V Amendment Convention. This did not surprise most of us, because we had heard most of these concerns before we as an organization decided to support a bill that contained a call to convention.  Some of us read up on the subject a couple of years ago, and decided to support this bill with full knowledge of these fears. Some of you are more new to the effort, and might not have heard all of these concerns before.

 

We all need to study the issue and be prepared to answer the concerns raised!

Attached are some reading materials, first the SHORT ones:

• WtPMA Fact Sheet, FAQ: Why Petition for an Article V Amendment Convention
• Paul Lauenstein (of Sharon and WtPMA) wrote a good short piece after the hearing

What convinced me the most a couple of years ago was a chapter from Lawrence Lessig's book "Republic Lost"... see Ch. 20 attached.

And here are links to longer expert studies and articles that support our call to convention:

1. Discussion of the Article V Constitutional amendment process in the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, Volume 30, Number 3, Summer, 2007:

http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/jlpp/Vol30_No3_Rogersonline.pdf

 

2. U.S. Dept. of Justice report to the Attorney General about limited constitutional conventions under Article V: http://constitution.i2i.org/files/2013/08/Limited-Article-V-Convention-Attorney-General.pdf

 

3. The Article V Convention to Propose Constitutional Amendments: Contemporary Issues for Congress by Thomas H. Neale, Specialist in American National Government April 11, 2014: https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42589.pdf

Opposition: here is a link to the statement by certain national organizations who oppose a call for an amendment convention (this was read to the VFA Committee by one opponent, a MA citizen):

http://www.commoncause.org/policy-and-litigation/testimony/reform-groups-oppose-constitutional-convention.html

(I would note that we do know that the Massachusetts Chapter of Common Cause does not agree with this statement)

I hope you will study this and I hope WtPMA chapters will have discussions!  All thoughts welcome, we like democracy and deliberation!

Thanks again

Lee Ketelsen

with We the People Massachusetts