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Representative proposes resolution urging repeal of 17th Amendment; committee questions recall standard
Summary
Representative Tom Millett presented House Joint Resolution 25, which urges Congress to repeal the 17th Amendment and return selection of U.S. senators to state legislatures; Millett proposed provisions for selection, liaison committees, state-paid salaries and a removal mechanism by state legislatures. Committee members questioned the simple-majority removal standard and whether Montana’s U.S. senators support the measure. No vote was recorded.
Representative Tom Millett (House District 2) presented House Joint Resolution 25 to the House Energy, Technology and Federal Relations Committee, urging Montana’s congressional delegation and the U.S. Congress to propose an amendment repealing the 17th Amendment and offering specific replacement language.
Millett said the proposed amendment would repeal the current direct-election method and return selection of U.S. senators to state legislatures, with each senator serving six-year terms and subject to reappointment. The proposal also would require each state legislature to create a liaison committee to maintain communications with its senators, shift senators’ salaries and benefits to the states, and allow state legislatures to remove a senator by majority vote.
Millett framed the resolution as a corrective to three historical problems that prompted the 17th Amendment—legislative deadlocks that left states unrepresented, bribery and corruption in some selections, and the lack of recall power at the state level. He argued modern safeguards such as campaign-finance reporting and state oversight would reduce historic corruption risks.
Committee members raised procedural and policy questions. Representative Fielder asked whether Montana’s U.S. senators had indicated opposition; Millett said none had told him they opposed the resolution. Representative Sharp expressed concern that allowing removal of senators by a simple majority of each legislative chamber could enable partisan removals rather than removals for misconduct; Millett said he preferred not to set the bar higher and described his view that senators should be accountable to state legislatures.
Representative Millett closed by urging the committee to vote do pass and to send the measure to the House floor for a broader discussion. The committee concluded the HJ25 hearing without a recorded vote.
What’s next: The resolution’s future depends on further committee action and any subsequent floor debate; the transcript records discussion but no formal committee decision.
