HJR 2009 (LSB 5389YH (12) 86)

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 2009

BY  KELLEY, BENNETT, STUTSMAN, STECKMAN, PRICHARD, WOLFE, ANDERSON, GAINES, DAWSON, BROWN-POWERS, HANSON, OLSON, JACOBY, HEDDENS, WESSEL-KROESCHELL, KRESSIG, KEARNS, THEDE, and MEYER

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION

A Joint Resolution calling for an Article V convention in order to propose amendments to the Constitution of the United States relating to free and fair elections.

   WHEREAS, George Washington, the first President of the United States, stated that the “basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government”; and
   WHEREAS, it was the stated intention of the framers of the Constitution of the United States that the Congress of the United States should be “dependent on the people alone”. (James Madison, Federalist 52); and
   WHEREAS, that dependency has evolved from a dependency on the people alone to a dependency on those who spend excessively in elections through campaigns or third-party groups; and
   WHEREAS, the Supreme Court of the United States ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 310 (2010), removed restrictions on amounts of independent political spending; and
   WHEREAS, the removal of those restrictions has resulted in the unjust influence of powerful economic forces in United States politics, which have supplanted the will of the people by undermining the people’s ability to choose the people’s own political leadership, write the people’s own laws, and determine the fate of the state; and
   WHEREAS, Article V of the Constitution of the United States requires the Congress of the United States to call a convention for proposing amendments upon application of two-thirds of the legislatures of the several states for the purpose of proposing amendments to the Constitution of the United States; and
   WHEREAS, the State of Iowa recognizes the need for a convention to propose an amendment in order to address concerns such as those raised by the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 310 (2010), and related cases and events including those occurring long before or afterward or for a substantially similar purpose; and
   WHEREAS, the State of Iowa desires that the delegates to said convention shall be comprised equally from individuals currently elected to state and local office, or be selected by election in each congressional district for the purpose of serving as delegates, though all individuals elected or appointed to federal office, now or in the past, be prohibited from serving as delegates to the Convention, and intends to retain the ability to restrict or expand the power of its delegates; NOW THEREFORE,

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

   That the State of Iowa, speaking through the general assembly, makes application to the Congress of the United States for a convention to be called pursuant to Article V of the Constitution of the United States to propose amendments to the Constitution of the United States for the exclusive purpose of protecting free and fair elections in the United States by removing the corrupting influence of money in our electoral process and addressing, among other things, concerns raised by the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 310 (2010), and related cases, as soon as two-thirds of the legislatures of the several states have made similar applications on the same issue.
   BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State shall transmit certified copies of this Joint Resolution, to the President and Vice President of the United States, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives, the President Pro Tempore of the United States Senate, the Minority Leader of the United States Senate, and each member of the Iowa congressional delegation requesting that the full and complete text of this application be recorded in the published Congressional Record and among the tally of state petitions for a convention of the states under Article V of the Constitution of the United States, and to the presiding officer of each house of each state legislature in the United States requesting the cooperation of the states in making application and compelling the Congress to call a convention for proposing amendments pursuant to Article V of the Constitution of the United States.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with

the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   This joint resolution makes application to the Congress of the United States of America for a convention to be called under Article V of the Constitution of the United States to propose amendments to the Constitution of the United States related exclusively to the conduct of elections and addressing the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 310 (2010). Article V of the Constitution of the United States requires Congress to call an Article V convention upon receiving applications from two-thirds of the legislatures of the several states.
   The resolution requires that the Secretary of State transmit certified copies of the resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives, the President Pro Tempore of the United States Senate, the Minority Leader of the United States Senate, and each member of the Iowa congressional delegation, and to the presiding officer of each house of each state legislature in the United States requesting the cooperation of the other states in calling a constitutional convention.