Fear of rogue convention deters Kansas Senate from aiding crusade to alter U.S. Constitution

TOPEKA — The Kansas Senate failed to pull together a two-thirds majority supportive of a national convention of states to consider an amendment to the U.S. Constitution establishing term limits for members of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate.

Six states have advanced a constitutional proposition on congressional term limits, which was below the 34 states necessary to call a convention and the 38 states required to attach an amendment to the national constitution. Objections centered on potential of a runaway convention that would dabble in all sorts of issues, but some opponents argued the Legislature should adopt term limits before meddling with Congress.

“It’s another case of we don’t like what other people do, but we don’t have the guts to do it to ourselves,” said Sen. Tim Shallenburger, a Republican from Baxter Springs who voted against the resolution.

Shallenburger, who was in the Kansas House from 1987 to 1998 and was appointed last year to the Senate, said that if reelected in November he would file a bill in 2025 calling for term limits on members of the state House and Senate. In Missouri, politicians can be elected to a maximum of four two-year terms in the House and elected to two four-year terms in the Senate.

Sen. Mike Thompson, R-Shawnee, urged colleagues to rally in favor of the resolution. On Wednesday, the Senate answered Thompson by voting 24-15 vote in favor of the resolution, but that didn’t meet the two-thirds majority required for passage. Six Republicans and nine Democrats voted against the measure.

A comparable convention resolution considered last legislative session by the Kansas House also failed to meet the state’s constitutional minimum of a two-thirds majority. In March 2023, the House vote was 69-54 in favor of a convention.

Thompson disputed the notion “that you’re going to have a runaway convention and its going to come out with all these different changes to the U.S. Constitution.”

However, Thompson said a constitutional convention ought to be convened to require a balanced federal budget given excessive spending of the “deep state” in Washington, D.C., and the rising national debt. Nineteen states, but not Kansas, have embraced the call for a constitutional convention to “limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, impose fiscal restraints, and place term limits on federal officials.”

Delegate selection

Sen. Dennis Pyle, a Hiawatha Republican who had supported the concept of a convention of states in the past, said he couldn’t vote for the congressional term limits resolution until firm ground rules were in place regarding Kansas’ participation.

He said that once the convention was in motion the delegates would have authority to amend the rules and the agenda, because “they can do whatever they want.” He said a significant problem with the Kansas Senate resolution was that it didn’t establish who would select the state’s delegates. He’s suggested the 40-member Senate could serve as the state’s delegation to a convention or the state’s governor could be responsible for appointing delegates.

Pyle said there appeared to be a good reason the U.S. Constitution had been amended 27 times, but never by the convention-of-states method.

Sen. Rob Olson, R-Olson, offered a motion to send Senate Concurrent Resolution 1609 back to a Senate committee for additional consideration. That failed 16-22.

“Looking back over my political career, I wish we had had term limits,” said Olson, who won’t seek reelection after 20 years in the Senate and House. “I think one person can spend too much time in one body.”

Democratic Sen. Tom Holland, a Baldwin City lawmaker for 22 years who also decided not to seek reelection, said he was concerned term limits would strengthen the grip of special-interest organizations over the legislative process. He said Kansas voters should determine at the ballot box who served in the Legislature rather than adhere to arbitrary time limits.

“If you have a constant turnover of legislators,” said Holland, who voted “pass” on the resolution, “you will have basically government by special interest.”

Historical perspective

During the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee’s hearing on the resolution, U.S. Term Limits regional director Shanna Chamblee argued public opinion favored congressional caps on service. Chamblee pointed to a Pew Research Center survey indicating 87% of respondents would welcome term limits.

Chamblee said it was urgent that Kansas join Florida, Alabama, Missouri, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Oklahoma in adopting a resolution calling for a convention confined to term limits of members of Congress.

“This momentum showcases the broad appeal and bipartisan nature of the desire to change the status quo,” Chamblee said.

Guard the Constitution founder Shawn Meehan, a retired U.S. Air Force master sergeant from Minden, Nev., said proponents of an Article V constitutional convention distorted views of Thomas Jefferson and George Mason. He said the nation’s founders didn’t establish the convention option so states could rein in the federal government. Instead, he said, the idea was states could seek amendment of the constitution to address “defects” rather than usurpation of the Constitution.

He quoted Alexander Hamilton, who he said argued constitutional amendments should address the “organization of the government, not … the mass of its powers.”

“An Article V convention is a recipe for constitutional chaos,” Meehan said. “A convention call will lead to litigation. There are numerous states that would litigate to protect their rights in what would become an international embarrassment, further diminishing our Constitution’s illuminating light of liberty.”

Wichita resident John Axtell, volunteer coordinator for Kansas Campaign for Liberty, said congressional term limits wouldn’t “clean up” Washington.

“The problem in Washington is more than just the bad elected officials who have been in office far too long,” he said. “After all, when these bad elected officials leave office, they leave behind the lobbyists, the donors who grew politically powerful, office staff who want to keep their jobs and careers, political party leadership and other participants in this bad legislator’s circle.”