--- title: HR 1861. United States Congress; call a convention under Article V of the Constitution of the United States limited to proposing amendments to limit the influence of money in political elections and on government officials collection: bills id: 2025-2026/hr1861 cite_as: HR 1861, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr1861 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr1861.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr1861/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/74381 date: 2026-03-27 status: introduced corpus_version: bills-2026-09-13 license: Public record of the Georgia General Assembly, via LegiScan; see about.md publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice. up: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026.md previous: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr1860.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr1862.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md omitted: votes and history omitted_chars: 129 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr1861.md?full=1 bill_number: HR 1861 session: 2025-2026 Regular Session session_slug: 2025-2026 chamber: House bill_type: resolution status_date: 2026-03-23 last_action: House Second Readers sponsors: - Gabriel Sanchez - Spencer Frye - Eric Bell text_version: Introduced has_text: true legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/HR1861/2025 upstream_id: 2137401 summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 topic_tags: - campaign finance - constitutional convention - Article V - election law - money in politics --- # HR 1861. United States Congress; call a convention under Article V of the Constitution of the United States limited to proposing amendments to limit the influence of money in political elections and on government officials ## Text House Resolution 1861 By: Representatives Sanchez of the 42nd, Frye of the 122nd, and Bell of the 75th A RESOLUTION Applying to the United States Congress to call a convention under Article V of the Constitution of the United States limited to proposing amendments to the Constitution of the United States to limit the influence of money in political elections and on government officials; and for other purposes. WHEREAS, Article V of the Constitution of the United States requires Congress to call a convention limited to proposing amendments to the Constitution upon application of two-thirds of the states; and WHEREAS, in the wake of previous scandals and public awareness of government corruption, the United States Congress has enacted limitations on campaign contributions and expenditures; and WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court has struck down these limitations and failed to uphold convictions in public corruption cases; and WHEREAS, issues concerning contributions and expenditures in political elections are at an all-time high and have led to an increase in public distrust. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA that this body does hereby apply to the United States Congress to call a convention under Article V of the Constitution of the United States limited to proposing an amendment or set of amendments to the Constitution of the United States to limit the influence of money in political elections and on government officials; provided, however, this limitation shall not prevent the consideration of comprehensive actions to address the subject, including without limitation any related limitations on the power of the United States Supreme Court to review any Congressionally enacted legislation authorized by such amendment or set of amendments. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this application shall be considered as covering the same subject matter as the applications from other states to Congress to call a convention to limit the influence of money in political elections and on government officials; and this application shall be aggregated with those of other states for the purpose of attaining the two-thirds of states necessary to require Congress to call a limited convention on this subject, but shall not be aggregated with any other applications on any other subject. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the General Assembly of Georgia insists that the convention be solely limited to strict consideration of the subject matter contained in this resolution and that the United States Congress enact a severe criminal penalty for persons who violate the finite scope of the call. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this application constitutes a continuing application in accordance with Article V of the Constitution of the United States of America until the legislatures of at least two-thirds of the several states have made applications on the same subject. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Clerk of the House of Representatives is authorized and directed to make appropriate copies of this resolution available for distribution to the President and Secretary of the Senate of the United States; to the Speaker, Clerk, and Judiciary Committee Chairperson of the House of Representatives of the United States; to members of the General Assembly of Georgia; and to the presiding officers of each of the legislative houses in the several states, requesting their cooperation. ## Summaries written by Georgia Commons The following was written by claude-sonnet-5 from the text above and is not part of the resolution. Quote the text, not the summary. A Georgia House resolution would formally ask the U.S. Congress to call a constitutional convention limited to proposing amendments that limit the influence of money in political elections and on government officials. ### Plain-language summary Article V of the U.S. Constitution lets Congress call a convention to propose constitutional amendments if two-thirds of state legislatures apply for one on the same subject. This resolution has the Georgia General Assembly join that effort, applying for a convention limited strictly to proposing amendments addressing the influence of money in politics and on government officials. The resolution says Georgia's application should count toward the two-thirds threshold alongside similar applications from other states, but only for this specific subject, not any other convention topic. It calls for the convention to be strictly limited to this subject and asks Congress to impose severe criminal penalties on anyone who tries to expand the convention beyond that scope. The application stays in effect continuously until enough states join to require Congress to act, and copies would be sent to congressional leaders and other state legislatures. ### What it does - Applies to the U.S. Congress on behalf of Georgia to call an Article V convention limited to amendments about money's influence in elections and on officials. - States that Georgia's application should be combined with other states' applications on the same subject to reach the two-thirds threshold needed to force a convention. - Specifies the application will not be aggregated with applications on any other subject. - Calls on Congress to enact severe criminal penalties for anyone who violates the convention's limited scope. - Declares the application a continuing one that stays active until two-thirds of state legislatures have applied on this same subject. - Directs the Clerk of the House to send copies of the resolution to congressional leaders and other states' legislatures. ### Who it affects This resolution primarily concerns the U.S. Congress and other state legislatures, since it is part of a multi-state push for a constitutional convention. It also affects Georgia voters and candidates broadly, since any resulting constitutional amendment could change campaign finance and election law nationwide. ### Why it matters If enough states pass similar applications, Congress could be required to call a constitutional convention focused on campaign finance and political money, potentially leading to a new constitutional amendment affecting how elections are funded and regulated across the country, including in Georgia. ### Key provisions - The resolution applies to Congress to call a convention limited solely to amendments addressing money's influence in political elections and on government officials. - It allows for consideration of related limits on the U.S. Supreme Court's power to review Congressional legislation authorized by such amendments. - It directs that Georgia's application be aggregated only with other states' applications on this same subject to reach the two-thirds threshold. - It calls for Congress to enact severe criminal penalties for violating the convention's limited scope. - It establishes the application as continuing until two-thirds of state legislatures apply on the same subject. - It directs the Clerk of the House to distribute copies to congressional officers and other states' legislative leaders. ## Status - Status: Introduced (2026-03-23) - Last action: House Second Readers (2026-03-27) - Sponsors: Gabriel Sanchez, Spencer Frye, Eric Bell - Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/74381 > The history, votes, and amendments (129 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr1861.md?full=1