| 1 | 1 | | 84R2773 RA-D |
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| 2 | 2 | | By: Ellis S.C.R. No. 2 |
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| 3 | 3 | | |
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| 4 | 4 | | |
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| 5 | 5 | | CONCURRENT RESOLUTION |
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| 6 | 6 | | WHEREAS, Discarding a century of precedent, the United States |
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| 7 | 7 | | Supreme Court, in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, |
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| 8 | 8 | | swept aside long-standing campaign finance laws and cleared the way |
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| 9 | 9 | | for unlimited corporate spending in elections; and |
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| 10 | 10 | | WHEREAS, The five justices in the majority ruled that |
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| 11 | 11 | | political spending is a form of protected speech under the First |
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| 12 | 12 | | Amendment and that the government may not prevent corporations from |
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| 13 | 13 | | giving money to support or oppose individual candidates for public |
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| 14 | 14 | | office; the United States Constitution, however, does not mention |
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| 15 | 15 | | corporations and endows only natural persons with the right to |
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| 16 | 16 | | speak, assemble, and petition; there is no evidence that the |
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| 17 | 17 | | framers of the constitution wished to extend to corporations the |
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| 18 | 18 | | same rights as natural persons in the electoral context; and |
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| 19 | 19 | | WHEREAS, Corporations, as the four dissenting judges noted in |
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| 20 | 20 | | their opinion, are legal entities with no consciences, beliefs, |
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| 21 | 21 | | feelings, thoughts, or desires; these entities help structure and |
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| 22 | 22 | | facilitate the activities of human beings but are not themselves |
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| 23 | 23 | | members of "We the People," by whom and for whom the constitution |
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| 24 | 24 | | was established; the conditional rights of corporations are granted |
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| 25 | 25 | | not by the constitution but rather through the legislative |
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| 26 | 26 | | deliberations of Congress and the states; and |
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| 27 | 27 | | WHEREAS, Unlike natural persons, corporations are granted |
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| 28 | 28 | | certain privileges, including limited liability, perpetual life, |
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| 29 | 29 | | and favorable treatment of the accumulation and distribution of |
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| 30 | 30 | | assets, that enhance their ability to attract capital and to |
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| 31 | 31 | | maximize the return on their shareholders' investments; yet these |
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| 32 | 32 | | very privileges give corporations the financial capacity to drown |
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| 33 | 33 | | out the individual voices of natural persons, which is why Congress |
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| 34 | 34 | | and the states have rightly sought to restrict the influence of |
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| 35 | 35 | | corporate power on our political system; moreover, corporations may |
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| 36 | 36 | | be under the control of citizens of foreign countries who are |
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| 37 | 37 | | ineligible to participate in our elections; and |
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| 38 | 38 | | WHEREAS, Article V of the U.S. Constitution empowers the |
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| 39 | 39 | | people and the states to correct egregious Supreme Court rulings by |
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| 40 | 40 | | means of constitutional amendment, and 7 of the extant 27 |
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| 41 | 41 | | amendments were enacted for just such a purpose; the tide of |
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| 42 | 42 | | corporate money that has been unleashed in the wake of Citizens |
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| 43 | 43 | | United deeply threatens the free speech protections of individuals, |
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| 44 | 44 | | and the amendment process must be used to reverse this erroneous and |
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| 45 | 45 | | damaging decision; now, therefore, be it |
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| 46 | 46 | | RESOLVED, That the 84th Legislature of the State of Texas |
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| 47 | 47 | | hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to |
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| 48 | 48 | | propose and submit to the states for ratification an amendment to |
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| 49 | 49 | | the United States Constitution that overturns Citizens United v. |
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| 50 | 50 | | Federal Election Commission, clearly establishing that the |
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| 51 | 51 | | spending of money to influence elections shall not be construed as |
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| 52 | 52 | | speech under the First Amendment and may be regulated by federal, |
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| 53 | 53 | | state, or local government, and clarifying that only natural |
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| 54 | 54 | | persons are protected by constitutional rights and that |
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| 55 | 55 | | corporations, limited liability companies, and other artificial |
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| 56 | 56 | | entities derive their rights through the legislative deliberations |
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| 57 | 57 | | of Congress and the states and remain subject to regulation by the |
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| 58 | 58 | | people through federal, state, or local law; and, be it further |
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| 59 | 59 | | RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official |
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| 60 | 60 | | copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to |
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| 61 | 61 | | the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of |
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| 62 | 62 | | Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the |
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| 63 | 63 | | members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that |
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| 64 | 64 | | this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a |
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| 65 | 65 | | memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |
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