Plausibility Defined: The Compact for a Balanced Budget

History shows the plausibility of surmounting the thresholds needed for the Compact approach to generate a limited government constitutional amendment.

Here is a list of compacts that have secured 38+ states:

1. “Agreement on Detainers” (National Center for Interstate Compacts, 2011);

2. “Compact on Mental Health” (National Center for Interstate Compacts, 2011);

3. “Compact on Placement of Children” (National Center for Interstate Compacts, 2011);

4. “Driver License Compact” (National Center for Interstate Compacts, 2011);

5. “Emergency Management Assistance Compact” (National Center for Interstate Compacts, 2011);

6. “Interstate Compact for Adult Offender Supervision” (National Center for Education Statistics, 2011);

7. “Interstate Corrections Compact” (National Center for Interstate Compacts, 2011);

8. “2010- 2015 NASDTEC Interstate Agreement Signees” (National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification, Sept. 5, 2013).

Here is a list of uniform laws that have been adopted in 38+ states:

1. Adult Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Jurisdiction Act;

2. Anatomical Gift Act;

3. Athletes Agents Act;

4. Attendance of Out of State Witnesses Act;

5. Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act;

6. Electronic Transactions Act;

7. Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act;

8. Voidable Transactions Act;

9. Principal and Income Act;

10. Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act'

11. TOD Security Registration Act;

12. Trade Secrets Act;

13. Transfers to Minors Act;

14. UCC Article 1;

15. UCC Article 2A;

16. UCC Article 3;

17. UCC Article 4;

18. UCC Article 5;

19. UCC Article 6;

20. UCC Article 7;

21. UCC Article 8;

22. UCC Article 9 amendments;

23. UCC Article 9.

As shown above, you can see that persuading thirty-eight (38) states to join an interstate compact or to adopt uniform legislation has been done before. Simple majorities of Congress have repeatedly voted in favor of a Balanced Budget Amendment proposal on the floor (only failing to reach the two-thirds threshold required for a Congressionally-proposed amendment). By contrast, so far, we have been waiting two hundred and twenty-five (225) years for the legacy approach to Article V to result in a convention, much less a ratified amendment.

If the goal is to maximize the chances of a federal Balanced Budget Amendment in the shortest period of time, the Compact for a Balanced Budget-warrants your support.

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