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Several of our fellow Wyoming legislators have argued against the effort to reign in the federal government using Article V of the Constitution, claiming that it is too risky. We want to set the record straight for Wyomingites who might hear it said that this essential part of our Constitution, the ability for states to push back against Washington, could harm that most sacred founding document.

Article V is the section of the Constitution that allows for amendments. One method, which has been used 27 times in our nation’s history, is for a two-thirds majority of Congress to propose amendments that must then be ratified by three-quarters of the states.

The other lesser-known method allows states directly to propose amendments via a “convention of states.” This is what the Convention of States Resolution, currently under consideration in the Wyoming Legislature, is all about. Here’s how it works.

First, 34 state legislatures (two-thirds) must pass a resolution calling for a convention to propose amendments. The resolution must specify particular topics that can be proposed as amendments at the convention.

Some legislators have repeatedly referred to the Article V convention as a “constitutional convention.” It is not. It is a limited-purpose convention solely for the purpose of proposing amendments, and only related to the subjects specified in the resolution.

Once 34 states have passed resolutions to deal with a specific topic, Congress must call the convention. The word in the Constitution is “shall,” meaning it must. The convention is only comprised of delegates from the states, and the federal government has no role in the convention. Each state has one vote, a fact guaranteed by the Constitution itself and by 250 years of legal precedent.

We are only too happy to report, therefore, that the Article V process makes Wyoming’s voice equal to California’s. As it should be.

At the convention the states, through their delegates, decide on the convention rules. Once the rules are passed, proposals for specific amendments are made, revised, and debated by the convention body. Moreover, anything that manages to get through the convention must still be ratified. That is much more difficult.

In fact, it takes fully 38 states, or three-quarters, to ratify any amendment that comes out of an Article V convention. If 13 state legislatures don’t ratify an amendment, it won’t become part of the Constitution.

Needless to say, this is a difficult process. It’s never been successfully used in our nation’s long history. And that’s the way that our Founders, in their great wisdom, intended it. They didn’t want the Constitution to be easily changed. This is why fears of a “runaway convention” are overblown.

In spite of making it difficult, the Founders did want states to push back against an out-of-control federal government using this process. In fact, this part of Article V was met with unanimous approval at the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia when Virginia delegate George Mason proposed it. His argument was that there may come a day when the federal government exceeds its authority, necessitating the direct involvement of the states.

That day has long since come and gone. And while things appear to be getting better in Washington, who knows how long it will last? We must use the momentum that swept change into the White House to put states back in charge, while we still can.

The Convention of States Resolution deals with three specific and essential areas: imposing fiscal restraints on the federal government, limiting federal power, and putting in place federal term limits.

Imagine what would happen if conservative states like Wyoming used this process to limit a federal government that has killed jobs in Gillette, drawn Riverton into the Wind River reservation, and closed public access roads at random throughout our great state.

This process isn’t risky. The real risk is continuing to do nothing.

We hope that our colleagues and the people of this great state will fight with us to restore the constitutional balance of powers and put states back in charge, using the Article V process that our Founders gave us.

Representative Nathan Winters (HD28) is a state representative from Thermopolis. Senator R. Ray Peterson (SD19) is a state senator from Cowley.