What is the process for amending the US Constitution?
The process for amending the U.S. Constitution is outlined in Article V of the Constitution. The amendment process begins when two-thirds of both houses of Congress (the Senate and House of Representatives) pass a resolution proposing an amendment. After that, three-fourths of the state legislatures must approve the proposed amendment for it to become part of the Constitution. In California, the state Senate and Assembly are the two houses of the California State Legislature. To start the amendment process in California, both houses must pass a resolution by a two-thirds majority vote in each house. The resolution would include the proposed amendment language. If the resolution passes, the amendment is sent to the state legislature of each state. It then needs to be approved by three-fourths of the state legislatures in order to become part of the U.S. Constitution. The amendment process is intended to be difficult in order to ensure that changes to the Constitution are taken seriously and are only made when absolutely necessary. Changes to the Constitution are viewed as an important part of maintaining the strength of our democracy, and the framers of the Constitution wanted to make sure that the process of making changes was an involved one.
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