Planning convention this July would set out rules for actual meeting of states

State Sen. Brian Kelsey and Rep. Dennis Powers have filed legislation calling for a convention of states this summer to plan an actual constitutional convention later this year or next year to adopt a balanced budget amendment.

The Tennessee General Assembly passed a resolution supporting a constitutional convention for such a purpose in 2014. Twenty-seven other states have also done so, and supporters hope to have all of the necessary 34 states signed on later this year.

At a press conference announcing the bill, Powers said the proposed July meeting would lay the groundwork for a process that's never happened before.

"The planning convention will actually set up the rules for the convention, and it will make sure this convention is not a runaway convention. We're going to ensure that, and we're going to have it just for a balanced budget amendment. It will force Congress, for the first time, to balance their budget," Powers said.

The national push for a constitutional convention has been led by the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC. Critics of the move worry that once all the states convene, additional constitutional amendments could be proffered.

That won't be an issue, Kelsey said.

"The whole point of the planning convention is to provide a trial run to show that we can plan for rules that will ensure there is no runaway convention in the future when the actual balanced budget amendment is called for," Kelsey said.

If an actual called convention does occur, and the actual wording of an amendment is ever agreed upon, it would then take 38 states to ratify the amendment before it became law.