83R645 BPG-D
By: Strama H.R. No. 230
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, The five-four decision by the United States Supreme
Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission swept away
a century of tradition limiting corporate spending in elections,
thus unleashing a torrent of large campaign contributions by
corporations and the super rich; and
WHEREAS, On January 21, 2010, the narrow majority of justices
in Citizens United not only overturned several key provisions of
the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 but also reversed a
number of previous Supreme Court decisions that established
constitutional justification for campaign finance limitations as a
means of deterring corruption and the appearance of corruption; and
WHEREAS, Citizens United holds that corporations are people
with rights to free speech under the United States Constitution,
and it equates money with speech; as four Supreme Court justices
noted in their dissenting opinion, however, the distinction between
corporations and natural persons is significant; corporations are
not members of society, and they cannot vote or run for office;
moreover, they may be managed and controlled by citizens of foreign
countries, and their interests may conflict in fundamental ways
with the interests of eligible voters; and
WHEREAS, Since the nation's founding, the general public and
statesmen alike have recognized that corporations with vast
financial resources are capable of drowning out the voices of
individuals in the political sphere, thereby undermining the
democratic process; the unprecedented flood of political
expenditures in the wake of Citizens United poses a threat to our
republic that can best be remedied through recourse to the
constitutional amendment process described in Article V of the
United States Constitution; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 83rd Texas
Legislature hereby express strong opposition to the United States
Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election
Commission and respectfully urge the United States Congress to
propose and send to the states for ratification an amendment to the
United States Constitution restoring republican democracy to the
people of the United States by clarifying the distinction between
the rights of natural persons and the rights of corporations,
thereby preserving the power of Congress and the states to limit
corporate influence on the outcome of elections; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the chief clerk of the Texas House of
Representatives 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.