2014 -- S 2420

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LC004670

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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 APPROVE AND PUBLISH AND SUBMIT TO THE ELECTORS A PROPOSITION OF

AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE (WE THE PEOPLE)

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

     Date Introduced: February 27, 2014

     Referred To: Senate Special Legislation and Veterans Affairs

     (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 United States Bill of Rights provides certain inalienable rights to

natural persons; and

     WHEREAS, Corporations are not mentioned in the United States Constitution; and

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

enjoy under the United States 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 distort the public discourse; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That a majority of all members elected to each house of the General

Assembly voting therefor, an amendment to Article I of the Constitution of the state shall be

proposed to the qualified electors of the state for their approval in accordance with the provisions

of Article XIV of the Constitution, and upon such approval, new sections 25 and 26, set forth

below, be added to and included in Article I of the Constitution; and that said proposition of

amendment shall be submitted to the electors for their approval or rejection at the next statewide

general election, and said proposition of amendment shall appear on the ballots as the first

referendum question posed and shall be preceded by the following explanation and space to

"approve" or "reject", all of which shall be in substantially the following form:

     1. CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT-WE THE PEOPLE

     Approval of this amendment will recognize and define corporations as artificial entities

established by law, and it shall prevent money spent to influence elections to be construed as

speech.

     APPROVE ________

     REJECT ________

      New sections shall be added to and included in Article I of the Constitution to read as

follows:

     Section 25. [Artificial Entities Such as Corporations Do Not Have Constitutional Rights]

     The rights protected by the Constitution of Rhode Island are the rights of natural persons

only.

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     Artificial entities established by the laws of any State, the United States, or any foreign

state shall have no rights under this Constitution and are subject to regulation by the People,

through State or local law.

     The privileges of artificial entities shall be determined by the People, through State or

local law, and shall not be construed to be inherent or inalienable.

     Section 26. [Money is Not Free Speech]

     State and local government shall regulate, limit, or prohibit contributions and

expenditures, including a candidate's own contributions and expenditures, to ensure that all

citizens, regardless of their economic status, have access to the political process, and that no

person gains, as a result of their money, substantially more access or ability to influence in any

way the election of any candidate for public office or any ballot measure.

     State and local government shall require that any permissible contributions and

expenditures be publicly disclosed.

     The spending of money to influence elections shall not be construed as speech under

Article 1, section 21 of the Rhode Island Constitution.

     RESOLVED, That the voting places in the several cities and towns shall be kept open

during the hours required by law for voting therein for general officers of the state; and be it

further

     RESOLVED, That the secretary of state shall cause said proposition of amendment to be

published as a part of this resolution in the newspapers of the state prior to the date of the said

meetings of the said electors; and said proposition shall be inserted in the warrants or notices to

district meetings of said electors; the district meetings shall be conducted in the same manner as

now provided by law for the town, ward, and district meetings for the election of general officers

of the state; and be it further

     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; be it also

     RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution shall be entered into the Congressional record

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

United States Senate, 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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LC004670

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