HF 3650

as introduced - 89th Legislature (2015 - 2016) Posted on 05/02/2016 04:43pm

A resolution
memorializing Congress; requesting that Congress clarify that the rights protected
under the Constitution are the rights of natural persons and not the rights of artificial
entities and that spending money to influence elections is not speech under the First
Amendment; asking that Congress propose a constitutional amendment to provide
such clarification, and, if Congress does not propose an amendment, applying to
Congress to call a convention to propose such an amendment.

WHEREAS, when the states and federal government first authorized the creation of
corporations, they were regulated by the people and their elected representatives through law; and

WHEREAS, the Supreme Court granted constitutional rights to corporations thereby
limiting the right of the people to regulate corporations through federal, state, or local law; and

WHEREAS, Supreme Court rulings on political spending in recent decades have
undermined the First Amendment, which was designed, even according to the Supreme Court in
1976, "to secure the widest possible dissemination of information from diverse and antagonistic
sources," and "to assure the unfettered interchange of ideas for the bringing about of political
and social changes desired by the people." Supreme Court rulings that have equated money as
speech have enabled people, corporations, and other entities to spend virtually unlimited money
in support of favored candidates and interests, undermining the core First Amendment value of
open and robust debate in the political process and the opportunity for voters to hear speech
from all candidates and all perspectives; and

WHEREAS, by giving artificial entities the constitutional rights of persons and treating
money as speech, the courts have undercut the rights of citizens to equal and meaningful
participation in the democratic process, and given corporations and other entities more power than
people when government is supposed to be "of the people, by the people, and for the people"; and

WHEREAS, this undermines public confidence in the democratic process and democratic
institutions; and

WHEREAS, under Article V of the Constitution of the United States, the Congress,
whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to the
Constitution; and

WHEREAS, under Article V of the Constitution of the United States, the Congress, on
the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for
proposing amendments to the Constitution; NOW, THEREFORE,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota that it requests that
Congress propose an amendment to the Constitution that shall substantially read as follows:

"(1) The rights protected by the Constitution of the United States are the rights of natural
persons only.

(2) Any entity, including any organization or association of one or more persons, established
or allowed by the laws of any State, the United States, or any Foreign State shall have no rights
under this Constitution separate from the rights of its members, and is subject to regulation by
the people, through Federal, State, or local law through which the entity is granted rights and
given responsibilities.

(3) Federal, 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.

(4) Federal, State, and local government shall require that any permissible contributions
and expenditures be publicly disclosed."

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that if Congress does not propose the amendment or a
substantially similar amendment as contained in this resolution, the Legislature of the State of
Minnesota applies to the Congress of the United States to call a convention for the purpose of
proposing the amendment or a substantially similar amendment as contained in this resolution as
an amendment to the Constitution; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of the State of Minnesota and the people
of Minnesota demand that if Congress does not propose the amendment in this resolution and if at
least two-thirds of state legislatures have applied to Congress to call for a convention to adopt the
same or a substantially similar constitutional amendment as contained in this resolution, then the
Congress must exercise its constitutional duty to call a convention, and that the convention shall
be called within six months from the date that at least two-thirds of state legislatures have made
the same or similar application to Congress; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of the State of Minnesota calls on other
states to join with the Legislature of the State of Minnesota in this action by passing the same
or similar resolutions; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of Minnesota is directed to
prepare copies of this resolution and transmit them to the Speaker and the Clerk of the United
States House of Representatives, the President and the Secretary of the United States Senate, the
United States Secretary of State, and Minnesota's Senators and Representatives in Congress.