2014 -- S 2381

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LC003471

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2014

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J O I N T   R E S O L U T I O N

TO PETITION THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES TO CONVENE A

CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION

     Introduced By: Senators Sosnowski, Nesselbush, Crowley, and Cool Rumsey

     Date Introduced: February 12, 2014

     Referred To: Senate Judiciary

     (by request)

     WHEREAS, The General Assembly seeks to empower the citizens of the state of Rhode

Island with the right to determine by a vote of the people the question whether corporations are

people and whether money shall be considered speech; and

     WHEREAS, The U.S. Bill of Rights provides certain inalienable rights to natural

persons; and

     WHEREAS, Corporations are not mentioned in the U.S. Constitution; and

     WHEREAS, Corporations are legal entities that governments create, and the rights they

enjoy under the U.S. Constitution should be more narrowly defined than the rights that are

afforded to natural persons; and

     WHEREAS, The growing influence of large independent political expenditures by

corporations and wealthy individuals is a great and growing concern to the people of the United

States and the state of Rhode Island; and

     WHEREAS, In a democracy the assurance of a fair and uncorrupted election process is of

the upmost importance, and the Rhode Island General Assembly believes that it is a legitimate

and vital role of government to regulate independent political expenditures by corporations,

unions, and wealthy individuals; and

     WHEREAS, In fulfillment of this important role the government of the United States and

a majority of states have regulated and restricted independent political expenditures by

corporations; and

     WHEREAS, In 2010, the supreme court of the United States decided by a bare majority

in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission that the First Amendment of the Constitution

of the United States prohibits restrictions on the use of corporate and union treasury funds for

electioneering; and

     WHEREAS, Citizens United was a dramatic reversal of established Supreme Court

precedent, and overturned decades of statutes enacted by Congress and numerous state

legislatures; and

     WHEREAS, Citizens United has served as precedent for further legal decisions harming

our democratic system of government, including SpeechNow.org v. FEC, which allows wealthy

individuals to anonymously channel unlimited political expenditures through Super PACs; and

     WHEREAS, In the wake of Citizens United there has been an exponential increase in

large independent political expenditures by corporations and wealthy individuals which threatens

the integrity of the election process, corrupts our candidates, dilutes the power of individual

voters and distorts the public discourse; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations hereby petitions

congress, under Article V of the United States Constitution, to call a constitutional convention for

the purpose of examining the issues of corporate personhood, electoral campaign financing, and

the supreme court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, and be it further

     RESOLVED, That the General Assembly considers the requirements of Article V to have

been met when two-thirds of the state legislatures, including our own, shall have also petitioned

congress for such a convention for the same or similar purposes within ten years of the passage of

this resolution; and be it further resolved

     RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution shall be entered into the congressional record

and shall be distributed to the President of the United States of America, the Vice President of the

United States, the Majority and Minority Leaders of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the

United States House of Representatives, the Minority Leader of the United States House of

Representatives, and to each leader of the houses of the legislatures of the several states, in

encouragement that they enact the same.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

J O I N T   R E S O L U T I O N

TO PETITION THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES TO CONVENE A

CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION

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     This joint resolution would petition the congress of the United States to call a

constitutional convention for the purpose of examining the issues of corporate personhood,

electoral campaign financing, and the supreme court of the United States' decision in Citizens

United v. Federal Election Commission.

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