More than 200 people showed up for the Senate State Affairs Committee meeting this morning, so many that it had to be moved across the hall to the Lincoln Auditorium, the Statehouse’s largest meeting room. Legislation from Sen. Marv Hagedorn, R-Meridian, calling for Idaho to petition for an Article V constitutional convention to enact a balanced budget amendment is up for a hearing. Before the meeting, the crowd stretched down the hall, waiting to sign up to testify.

Among those waiting to present are former Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, who long was an advocate of a balanced budget amendment in Congress.

Hagedorn told the committee, “The issue before us today is neither new to this com nor dimished in its critical importance.” He said Article V provides that when 34 state petition Congress to convene a convention to enact the same amendment to the Constitution, “Congress is required to do so. As of today, 28 states have passed resolutions exactly like the one before you, seeking a convention for the sole purpose of … a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution.”

“We expect Wyoming to become No. 29 in the next few days,” Hagedorn said. “Arizona will probably follow soon. There’s a number of states that are working on this same issue. And there’s good reason for us to do so as well.”

Hagedorn cited the federal debt. “Our current total debt is $19.9 trillion dollars,” he told the committee. “That’s equal to $61,500 per person, man, woman, child, or $167,000 per taxpayer. It’s interesting to note that when Greece had its financial crisis in 2009-10, their debt was 33,000 Euros per person. We are almost double that today.”