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The following petitions and memorials were laid before the Senate and were referred or ordered to lie on the table as indicated:

POM-42. A joint resolution adopted by the Legislature of the State of South Dakota; to the Committee on the Judiciary:

`South Dakota Joint Resolution

`Whereas, Congress was originally envisioned by the Founding Fathers as a nonpartisan, part-time legislative body whose members would take time from their normal businesses and professions to attend the congressional session for four to five months annually; and

`Whereas, the press of the Nation's business has forced the Congress to become increasingly a highly-structured, professional and hierarchical institution rather than an informal, flexible gathering of citizens and legal intellects that obtained in the Federalist Era; and

`Whereas, the power of the incumbency has grown over time and with the institution of electronic media to the point that the incumbent is nearly unassailable in any normal election; and

`Whereas, the seniority system in the Congress, though recently reformed, still places disproportionate stress on electoral longevity; and

`Whereas, innovative ideas and rejuvenated vigor are more likely to come to the Congress through new members fresh from association with the American people; and

`Whereas, the most common complaint that the public makes about congressional service is that congressmen spend more of their time running for office than attending to their duties; and

`Whereas, the power of incumbency makes biennial congressional elections an expensive, exasperating and, ultimately, rather meaningless waste of each congressman's time and talents; and

`Whereas, under Article V of the United States Constitution, amendments to the Constitution may be proposed by the Congress whenever two-thirds of both Houses deem it necessary, or, on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states, the Congress shall call a Constitutional Convention for the purposes of proposing amendments: Now, therefore, be it

`Resolved, by the House of Representatives of the State of South Dakota, the Senate concurring therein, that the Legislature does hereby make application to the Congress of the United States that procedures be instituted in the Congress to amend the Constitution of the United States, and that the Legislature of the State of South Dakota hereby requests the Congress to prepare and submit to the several States amendments to the Constitution of the United States, which would provide for four-year terms for the House of Representatives and which would limit service in the Senate to two terms and to limit service in the House of Representatives to three four-year terms; and be it further

`Resolved, That alternatively, this Legislature hereby makes application under said Article V of the Constitution of the United States and with the same force and effect as if this Resolution consisted of this portion alone and requests that the Congress of the United States call a Constitutional Convention for the specific and exclusive purpose of proposing amendments to the Constitution of the United States, which would provide for four-year terms for the House of Representatives and which would limit service in the Senate to two terms and to limit service in the House of Representatives to three four-year terms; and be it further

`Resolved, that this application by this Legislature constitutes a continuing application in accordance with Article V of the Constitution of the United States until at least two-thirds of the legislature of the several States have made applications for similar relief pursuant to Article V, but, if Congress proposes amendments to the Constitution identical in subject matter to that contained in this Joint Resolution then this petition for a Constitutional Convention shall no longer be of any force or effect; and be it further

`Resolved, That this Legislature also proposes that the legislatures of each of the several States comprising the United States apply to the Congress requesting the enactment of appropriate amendments to the Federal Constitution, or requiring the Congress to call a Constitutional Convention for proposing such amendments to the Federal Constitution; and be it further

`Resolved, That copies of this Joint Resolution be sent by the Secretary of State to each member of the South Dakota Congressional Delegation: and be it futher

`Resolved, That the Secretary of State is directed to send copies of this Joint Resolution to the presiding officers of both Houses of the Legislature of each of the other States in the Union, the Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, Washington, D.C., and the Secretary of the United States Senate, Washington, D.C.'