United States Constitutional Convention under Article V; apply for congressional term limits.

2026 Regular Session Introduced by Randy Boyd and 17 co-sponsors

Mississippi urges Congress to call a limited constitutional convention to propose term limits for U.S. Senators and Representatives.

Died On Calendar

#rules

Purpose and Intent

HC 51 is a concurrent resolution in Mississippi requesting Congress to call a United States Constitutional Convention under Article V of the U.S. Constitution.

The specific subject of the proposed convention is to consider amendments that would impose term limits on members of Congress (both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate).

Key Provisions

Section 1: Formal application by Mississippi for an Amendments Convention limited to the topic of congressional term limits. The resolution states the convention would be called to propose amendments restricting:

The number of terms a person may be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
The number of terms a person may be elected to the U.S. Senate.

Section 2: The application is to be treated as a matter of the same subject as other state applications seeking a convention on term limits. It must be aggregated with other state applications for the purposes of reaching the two-thirds threshold needed to trigger a convention, but not aggregated with applications on other subjects.

Section 3: This is a continuing application under Article V until at least two-thirds of the states have made applications on the same subject (term limits). It ensures ongoing participation in pursuit of the convention.

Administrative step: A certified copy of the application would be transmitted to federal and state leaders (e.g., President of the U.S. Senate, Speaker of the House, and presiding officers of state legislatures) to solicit cooperation.

Who/What Would Be Affected

The direct effect would be on the process of amending the U.S. Constitution. If the requisite number of state applications is reached, Congress would be obligated to call a limited Amendments Convention focused solely on establishing congressional term limits.

The bill does not itself impose term limits; rather, it urges Congress to convene a convention that could propose such amendments, which would then need state ratification to become part of the Constitution.

Procedural and Timeline Aspects

Legislative action: HC 51 passed through the Mississippi House (title sufficiency adoption occurred; referred to Rules). It includes multiple co-sponsors.

Status: The action history shows suspension from deadlines and “Died On Calendar” on April 15, 2026, indicating the measure did not progress to passage in that session.

Continuity: The resolution is structured as a continuing application under Article V, meaning it remains in effect for as long as Mississippi and other states pursue the same subject until two-thirds of states have applied.

Notable Context

Article V allows states to petition Congress to call a Constitutional Convention for amendments on specified topics when two-thirds of state legislatures apply.

If such a convention were convened, any proposed amendments would still require ratification by three-fourths of the states to become part of the Constitution.

This summary presents HC 51 as a procedural move to support a national constitutional change via a term-limit-focused convention, without producing immediate changes to federal law.

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