A bipartisan group of state lawmakers filed a resolution Thursday calling for an Article V Convention of the States for the purpose of proposing amendments to the U.S. Constitution to remove the influence of money in politics.

The resolution is part of a nationwide campaign backed by “The Young Turks” founder Cenk Uygur’s Wolf PAC to overturn several Supreme Court rulings – most notably Citizens United v. FEC – that have flooded elections with unlimited corporate money.

Article V of the Constitution provides two avenues by which the Constitution can be amended. The first is through an act of Congress – if two-thirds of both the House and Senate pass an amendment, it is then sent to the states for approval. The second method, which has not yet been used, circumvents Congress by calling a Convention of the States for proposing amendments if 2/3 of state legislatures (34 states total) pass resolutions supporting a convention on the same topic. Both amendments proposed by Congress and amendments resulting from a constitutional convention must be ratified by 3/4 of state legislatures (38 states).

While at least 16 states have passed resolutions calling on Congress to propose an amendment overturning Citizens United, Wolf PAC argues that members of Congress have become too corrupted by corporate money to provide a solution to the problem. The group cites the failure of the DISCLOSE Act, a bill that would have required independent groups to disclose the names of contributors who gave more than $10,000 to political campaigns, as evidence that Congress is unlikely to act.

“Wolf PAC believes that we can no longer count on our federal government to do what is in the best interest of the American people due to the unfettered amount of money they receive from outside organizations to fund their campaigns,” Wolf PAC states on its website. “We believe that we have no choice but to put an amendment in the hands of our State Legislators, who are not, at this moment in time, completely blinded by the influence of money.”

Wolf PAC also notes that the prospect of a convention has historically been an effective method of pushing Congress to act. For example, when the call for a convention to propose an amendment to directly elect senators came within one state of the 2/3 minimum, Congress preempted the states by proposing the 17th Amendment.

“The threat of a convention is the strongest message we can send and the most effective way to restore our democracy in the United States,” Wolf PAC writes.

In May, Vermont became the first state to pass a resolution calling for a convention to address money in politics. Read that resolution here.

Wolf PAC reports that at least ten other states have filed similar resolutions — California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maryland, Colorado, Montana, and, now, North Carolina. According to Uygur, more than 100 state legislators have signed on to the call for a convention.

There’s some disagreement among experts about whether or not an Article V convention can be held to a particular topic, prompting concerns about the possibility of a “runaway convention” that could produce extreme proposals. However, supporters of a convention argue that deviation is unlikely due to the requirement that all 34 resolutions address the same topic, and note that any proposed amendment would still need to be approved by 38 states.

Harvard Law School Professor and Creative Commons founder Lawrence Lessig, a supporter of Wolf PAC’s approach, offered the following explanation during a lecture in March:

It takes 38 states to ratify an amendment. There are 27 double-red states, meaning Republicans control both houses, and there are 17 double-blue states, meaning Democrats control both houses. Thirteen houses could block any amendment. If you’re telling me that [a proposed amendment] couldn’t get 13 of the 27 Republican states to bock it, or 13 of the 17 Democratic states to block it, I don’t think you’ve picked an extreme amendment.

Watch the clip:

The resolution’s primary sponsors are Rep. Marcus Brandon (D-Guilford), Rep. Nathan Baskerville (D-Vance), Rep. Marvin Lucas (D-Cumberland), and Rep. Robert Brawley (R-Iredell).

Read HR 1258:

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