83R498 BPG-D
By: Thompson of Harris H.C.R. No. 21
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Discarding a century of precedent, the United States
Supreme Court, in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission,
swept aside long-standing campaign finance laws and cleared the way
for unlimited corporate spending in elections; and
WHEREAS, The five justices in the majority ruled that
political spending is a form of protected speech under the First
Amendment and that the government may not prevent corporations from
giving money to support or oppose individual candidates for public
office; the United States Constitution, however, does not mention
corporations and endows only natural persons with the right to
speak, assemble, and petition; there is no evidence that the
framers of the constitution wished to extend to corporations the
same rights as natural persons in the electoral context; and
WHEREAS, Corporations, as the four dissenting judges noted in
their opinion, are legal entities with no consciences, beliefs,
feelings, thoughts, or desires; these entities help structure and
facilitate the activities of human beings but are not themselves
members of "We the People," by whom and for whom the constitution
was established; the conditional rights of corporations are granted
not by the constitution but rather through the legislative
deliberations of Congress and the states; and
WHEREAS, Unlike natural persons, corporations are granted
certain privileges, including limited liability, perpetual life,
and favorable treatment of the accumulation and distribution of
assets, that enhance their ability to attract capital and to
maximize the return on their shareholders' investments; yet these
very privileges give corporations the financial capacity to drown
out the individual voices of natural persons, which is why Congress
and the states have rightly sought to restrict the influence of
corporate power on our political system; moreover, corporations may
be under the control of citizens of foreign countries who are
ineligible to participate in our elections; and
WHEREAS, Article V of the U.S. Constitution empowers the
people and the states to correct egregious Supreme Court rulings by
means of constitutional amendment, and 7 of the extant 27
amendments were enacted for just such a purpose; the tide of
corporate money that has been unleashed in the wake of Citizens
United deeply threatens the free speech protections of individuals,
and the amendment process must be used to reverse this erroneous and
damaging decision; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 83rd Legislature of the State of Texas
hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to
propose and submit to the states for ratification an amendment to
the United States Constitution that overturns Citizens United v.
Federal Election Commission, clearly establishing that the
spending of money to influence elections shall not be construed as
speech under the First Amendment and may be regulated by federal,
state, or local government, and clarifying that only natural
persons are protected by constitutional rights and that
corporations, limited liability companies, and other artificial
entities derive their rights through the legislative deliberations
of Congress and the states and remain subject to regulation by the
people through federal, state, or local law; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of
Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the
members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that
this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.