| 1 | 1 | | 85R2058 KSM-D |
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| 2 | 2 | | By: Anchia H.C.R. No. 34 |
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| 4 | 4 | | |
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| 5 | 5 | | CONCURRENT RESOLUTION |
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| 6 | 6 | | WHEREAS, In Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, |
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| 7 | 7 | | the United States Supreme Court cast off precedent and |
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| 8 | 8 | | long-standing campaign finance laws, which has resulted in |
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| 9 | 9 | | unlimited corporate spending in elections; and |
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| 10 | 10 | | WHEREAS, The majority ruled that political spending is a form |
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| 11 | 11 | | of protected speech under the First Amendment and that the |
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| 12 | 12 | | government may not prevent corporations from giving money to |
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| 13 | 13 | | support or oppose individual candidates for public office; the |
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| 14 | 14 | | United States Constitution, however, does not mention |
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| 15 | 15 | | corporations, and there is no evidence that the framers of the |
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| 16 | 16 | | constitution wished to extend to corporations the same rights as |
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| 17 | 17 | | natural persons in the electoral context; and |
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| 18 | 18 | | WHEREAS, Corporations, as the four dissenting judges noted in |
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| 19 | 19 | | their opinion, are legal entities, and the conditional rights of |
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| 20 | 20 | | corporations are granted not by the constitution but rather through |
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| 21 | 21 | | the legislative deliberations of Congress and the states; and |
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| 22 | 22 | | WHEREAS, Unlike natural persons, corporations are granted |
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| 23 | 23 | | certain privileges, including limited liability, perpetual life, |
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| 24 | 24 | | and favorable treatment of the accumulation and distribution of |
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| 25 | 25 | | assets, that enhance their ability to attract capital and to |
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| 26 | 26 | | maximize the return on their shareholders' investments; yet these |
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| 27 | 27 | | very privileges give corporations the financial capacity to drown |
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| 28 | 28 | | out the individual voices of natural persons; moreover, |
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| 29 | 29 | | corporations may be under the control of citizens of foreign |
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| 30 | 30 | | countries who are ineligible to participate in our elections; and |
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| 31 | 31 | | WHEREAS, Corporate money now spent in election campaigns |
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| 32 | 32 | | threatens the free speech protections of individuals and the |
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| 33 | 33 | | integrity and fairness of our electoral procedures, and the |
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| 34 | 34 | | amendment process must be used to reverse this erroneous and |
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| 35 | 35 | | damaging decision; now, therefore, be it |
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| 36 | 36 | | RESOLVED, That the 85th Legislature of the State of Texas |
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| 37 | 37 | | hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to |
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| 38 | 38 | | propose and submit to the states for ratification an amendment to |
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| 39 | 39 | | the United States Constitution that overturns the Supreme Court |
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| 40 | 40 | | decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission; and, be |
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| 41 | 41 | | it further |
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| 42 | 42 | | RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official |
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| 43 | 43 | | copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to |
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| 44 | 44 | | the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of |
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| 45 | 45 | | Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the |
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| 46 | 46 | | members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that |
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| 47 | 47 | | this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a |
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| 48 | 48 | | memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |
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