Awesome. I setup a table at an event this past summer to network in my county and a lady came up to me that was in Convention of States.
The Article V Caucus website I read their monthly updates. It's mostly current and former state legislators, and there was an interesting article from one individual involved in COS I think. He was talking about the panic fear people (Common Cause, LWV) that don't want to see this become anything have to try and stop it from occurring and the different groups (BBA, COS, Term Limits, WolfPac) need to join together to show the process can work. My thought is the best way to do that is constitutional change on a benign problem everyone knows exists and thinks needs resolved, but no one wants to expend political capital for it. The purpose would be to show the process works on a non-partisan issue and does not lead to the end of the union.
These were my ideas:
-anti-Nepotism Amendment:
1 No individual shall appoint to any office with renumeration a person that is their parent, child, spouse, significant other, grandchild, sibling, or dependent.
2 In the event of vacancy for an elective office, no appointment to fill the vacancy shall be the parent, child, spouse, significant other, grandchild, sibling, or dependent of the person that vacated.
Text can be tweaked but 1 is for Bobby Kennedy scenario, Hillary working for Bill, and Trump hiring his kids. There was a Bobby Kennedy law to stop that, but federal courts have ruled it does not apply to president. Just make it universal, that way it can apply to municipalities as well as the federal government.
2 is the Lisa Murkowski appointed Senator by her father scenario. And it's happened a couple times in the Indiana state legislature the past few years of someone died or took extended leave they were replaced by spouse, son where no election took place, the vacancy was filled by party caucus
-an Amendment on Amendments: can approval be rescinded by a state, should there be a timeframe for approval, should the states be commandeered to vote yea or nay in a certain amount of time, etc.
-carry out Continuity of Government Commission recommendations - I've listened to podcasts on the guys of the Commission trying to work with Congress and they said it's largely impossible to get members of Congress to confront their own mortality
-mandate a time limit for vacancy to Congress to be filled (that way governors aren't nakedly partisan to districts likely to be won by the other party and slow-walk the special election)
-clarify who are Officers of Government (can legislators be in the line of succession, are acting secretaries considered officers)
-consolidate special election and general election for next Congress when both take place on Election Day in November - having a separate special election for the lame duck session right underneath the general election for the next Congress is dumb, just provide constitutionally that the two can be joined
-provide organizational detail to how an Article V Convention should operate
