Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to a national referendum process.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.J. Res. 220 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. J. RES. 220

    Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States 
               relating to a national referendum process.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 22, 2026

   Mr. Olszewski submitted the following joint resolution; which was 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                            JOINT RESOLUTION

 
    Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States 
               relating to a national referendum process.

    Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled   (two-thirds of each House 
concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an 
amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be 
valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when 
ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States 
within seven years after the date of its submission for ratification:

                              ``Article--

    ``Section 1. The people shall have the right to enact any law which 
the Congress has authority to pass, except that the people shall not 
have the right to declare war, grant letters of marquee and reprisal, 
make rules concerning captures on land and water, call forth the 
militia, allocate appropriations or enact constitutional amendments.
    ``Section 2. A petition proposing the enactment of a law, or the 
repeal of a provision of law, shall be submitted to an officer of the 
U.S. House of Representatives and an officer of the U.S. Senate. Each 
petition shall contain the text of the proposed law, or, in the case of 
a proposed repeal of a provision of law, the text of the provision of 
law that shall cease to be effective if repealed under this article. 
Each petition shall be signed by at least 5 percent of the whole number 
of people, in each of at least 25 States, who voted in the most recent 
election for President, or for electors for President, occurring before 
the date on which the petition is submitted to the officers designated 
by Congress, and the total number of signatures on such petition shall 
be at least 5 percent of the whole number of people, from all of the 
several States, who voted in such an election. All such signatures 
shall be collected within the 18-month period ending on the date the 
petition is submitted to the officers designated by the Congress. Not 
later than 90 days after the date that a petition is submitted to the 
officers designated by the Congress, such officers shall determine the 
validity of the signatures contained in the petition. If the petition 
is deemed constitutionally compliant and contains the required number 
of valid signatures, the officers shall certify the petition and shall 
direct the chief executive officer in each State to place a copy of the 
proposed law, or provision of law proposed to be repealed, contained in 
the petition on the ballot in the next election in accordance with 
section 25 of the Revised Statutes of the United States (2 U.S.C. 7) 
which is held at least 120 days after such certification. The Congress 
shall by law establish procedures for the preparation and submission of 
any such petition and for the validation of signatures on such 
petition.
    ``Section 3. If a law or repeal proposed under this article 
receives at least 60 percent of the number of the qualified voters 
voting thereon, the proposed law or repeal shall be enacted and take 
effect according to its terms and shall not be presented to the 
President for signature, veto, or approval. The Congress may not, 
during the 2-year period beginning on the date on which a law enacted 
by the people under this article takes effect, or the date on which a 
law repealed by the people under this article ceases to be effective, 
repeal or amend a law so enacted, or reenact any part of a law so 
repealed, except by an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the Members of 
each House of Congress.
    ``Section 4. The people in each State voting under this article 
shall have the qualification requisite for electors of the most 
numerous branch of the State legislature. The Congress shall by law 
prescribe the manner in which the results of the voting conducted under 
this article shall be ascertained and declared.''.
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