http://www.newsmax.com/t/newsmax/article/565155
34 States Call for Constitutional Convention — and Possible Rewrite
For example, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and New Hampshire called for a convention in the 1970s, and all later rescinded the requests. While they were not the only states to rescind the measure,
since 2010 the four states have again called for a convention to specifically deal with a balanced-budget amendment.
The resulting confusion, and lack of clear guidance in the Constitution, will have to be sorted out by the congressional leadership since Article 5 says that Congress "shall call a convention for proposing amendments" when requested by enough states.
Under Article 5 of the Constitution, such a convention can be convened when requested by two-thirds of the states, and it is one of two ways to propose amendments to the nation's founding document.
The other method — by which all previous constitutional amendments have been initiated — requires a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress. Ratifying amendments then require three-fourths of the states to approve.
Many but not all of the states have called for a convention that would specifically seek to balance the budget.
"A balanced budget amendment is long overdue and remains an effective tool to address runaway spending and deficits," Hunter said.
Unless called to deal with a specific issue, some legal experts warn a "runaway" convention could create chaos.
