Senate Joint Resolution 2002 - Introduced SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 2002 BY DANIELSON SENA TE JOINT RESOLUTION A Joint Resolution requesting the proposal of an amendment to 1 the Constitution of the United States relating to Citizens 2 United v. Federal Election Commission. 3 WHEREAS, the protections afforded by the First Amendment 4 of the Constitution of the United States to the people of our 5 nation are fundamental to our democracy; and 6 WHEREAS, the First Amendment of the Constitution of the 7 United States was designed to protect the free speech rights of 8 people regardless of wealth, and not corporations; and 9 WHEREAS, corporations are not people who are entitled to 10 constitutional rights of citizenship but instead are entities 11 created by the laws of states and nations; and 12 WHEREAS, for the past three decades, a divided United States 13 Supreme Court has transformed the First Amendment into a 14 powerful tool for corporations seeking to evade and invalidate 15 democratically enacted reforms; and 16 WHEREAS, this corporate misuse of the First Amendment and 17 the Constitution of the United States has reached an extreme 18 conclusion in the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in 19 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 130 S. Ct. 876 20 (2010); and 21 WHEREAS, the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. 22 Federal Election Commission overturned long-standing precedent 23 prohibiting corporations from spending their general treasury 24 funds in our elections; and 25 WHEREAS, the opinion of the four dissenting justices in 26 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission noted that 27 corporations have special advantages not enjoyed by natural 28 persons, such as limited liability, perpetual life, and 29 favorable treatment of the accumulation and distribution of 30 assets, that allow them to spend prodigious sums on campaign 31 TLSB 5818SS (4) 84 jr/sc

Senate Joint Resolution 2002 - Introduced messages that have little or no correlation with the beliefs 32 held by natural persons; and 33 WHEREAS, the majority opinion of the Supreme Court in Austin 34 v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce, 494 U.S. 652 (1990), ruled 35 that the people have a compelling interest in preventing the 36 corrosive and distorting effects of immense aggregations of 37 wealth that are accumulated with the help of the corporate form 38 and that have little or no correlation to the public’s support 39 for the corporation’s political ideas from unduly influencing 40 our political process; and 41 WHEREAS, the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United 42 v. Federal Election Commission will now unleash a torrent of 43 corporate money into our political process unmatched by any 44 campaign expenditure totals in United States history; and 45 WHEREAS, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission 46 purports to invalidate state laws and even state constitutional 47 provisions separating corporate money from elections; and 48 WHEREAS, the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. 49 Federal Election Commission represents a serious and direct 50 threat to our democracy; and 51 WHEREAS, the general public and political leaders in the 52 United States have recognized, since the founding of our 53 country, that the interests of corporations do not always 54 correspond with the public interest and that, therefore, the 55 political influence of corporations should be limited; and 56 WHEREAS, in 1816, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “I hope ... 57 we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed 58 corporations, which dare already to challenge our government 59 to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our 60 country”; and 61 WHEREAS, Article V of the Constitution of the United States 62 empowers and obligates the people and states of the United 63 States of America to use the constitutional amendment process 64 to correct those egregiously wrong decisions of the United 65 States Supreme Court that go to the heart of our democracy and 66 republican self-government; and 67 WHEREAS, notwithstanding the decision in Citizens United 68 TLSB 5818SS (4) 84 jr/sc

S.J.R. 2002 That the General Assembly respectfully disagrees with the 1 majority opinion and decision of the United States Supreme 2 Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission; and 3 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Congress of the United 4 States is hereby petitioned to propose an amendment to the 5 Constitution of the United States, for submission to the states 6 for ratification, to overturn Citizens United v. Federal 7 Election Commission and to restore constitutional rights and 8 fair elections to the people; and 9 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That, alternatively, pursuant to 10 Article V of the Constitution of the United States, the General 11 Assembly, as the Legislature of the State of Iowa, makes 12 application to the Congress of the United States to call a 13 convention for the specific and exclusive purpose of proposing 14 an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, for 15 submission to the states for ratification, to overturn 16 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and to restore 17 constitutional rights and fair elections to the people; and 18 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That if, within sixty days after the 19 legislatures of two-thirds of the states make application for 20 such convention, Congress proposes and submits to the states 21 for ratification an amendment to the Constitution of the United 22 States which overturns Citizens United v. Federal Election 23 Commission, then this application for a convention shall no 24 longer be of any force and effect; and 25 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this application constitutes 26 a continuing application in accordance with Article V of the 27 Constitution of the United States, until at least two-thirds of 28 the legislatures of the several states have made application 29 for a similar convention under Article V, or the Congress has 30 proposed the amendment called for by this Joint Resolution, or 31 the General Assembly acts to withdraw this application; and 32 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That, upon passage, the Secretary 33 of State shall transmit certified copies of this Joint 34 Resolution to the President and Secretary of the United States 35 -1- LSB 5818SS (4) 84 jr/sc 1/ 2

S.J.R. 2002 Senate, the Speaker and Clerk of the United States House 1 of Representatives, each member of the Iowa congressional 2 delegation, and the presiding officer of each house of each 3 state legislature in the United States. 4 EXPLANATION 5 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 130 S. Ct. 6 876 (2010), is a United States Supreme Court decision holding 7 that the First Amendment prohibits government from placing 8 limits on independent spending for political purposes by 9 corporations and labor unions. This joint resolution petitions 10 Congress to propose an amendment to the Constitution of the 11 United States, for submission to the states for ratification, 12 to reverse Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. 13 Alternatively, the resolution is an application to the 14 Congress from the State of Iowa, as required by Article V of 15 the Constitution of the United States, calling upon Congress 16 to convene a constitutional convention concerning the proposed 17 amendment. 18 -2- LSB 5818SS (4) 84 jr/sc 2/ 2