BILL NUMBER: AJR 22	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Members Wieckowski and Allen
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Ammiano, Hayashi, Hill, and Huffman)
   (Coauthors: Senators Hancock and Lieu)

                        JANUARY 5, 2012

   Relative to campaign finance reform.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AJR 22, as introduced, Wieckowski. Campaign finance reform.
   This measure would memorialize the Legislature's disagreement with
the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Citizens United
v. Federal Election Commission, and would call upon the United States
Congress to propose and send to the states for ratification a
constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United v. Federal
Election Commission and to restore constitutional rights and fair
elections to the people.
   Fiscal committee: no.



   WHEREAS, The protections afforded by the First Amendment to the
United States Constitution to the people of our nation are
fundamental to our democracy; and
   WHEREAS, The First Amendment to the United States Constitution was
designed to protect the free speech rights of people, not
corporations; and
   WHEREAS, Corporations are not people but, instead, are entities
created by the laws of states and nations; and
   WHEREAS, For the past three decades, a divided United States
Supreme Court has transformed the First Amendment into a powerful
tool for corporations seeking to evade and invalidate democratically
enacted reforms; and
   WHEREAS, This corporate misuse of the First Amendment and the
United States Constitution reached an extreme conclusion in the
United States Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United v. Federal
Election Commission (2010) 130 S.Ct. 876; and
   WHEREAS, The United States Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens
United v. Federal Election Commission overturned longstanding
precedent prohibiting corporations from spending their general
treasury funds in our elections; and
   WHEREAS, The opinion of the four dissenting justices in Citizens
United v. Federal Election Commission noted that corporations have
special advantages not enjoyed by natural persons, such as limited
liability, perpetual life, and favorable treatment of the
accumulation and distribution of assets, that allow them to spend
prodigious sums on campaign messages that have little or no
correlation with the beliefs held by natural persons; and
   WHEREAS, The United States Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens
United v. Federal Election Commission will now unleash a torrent of
corporate money in our political process unmatched by any campaign
expenditure totals in United States history; and
   WHEREAS, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission purports
to invalidate state laws and state constitutional provisions
separating corporate money from elections; and
   WHEREAS, The United States Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens
United v. Federal Election Commission represents a serious and direct
threat to our democracy; and
   WHEREAS, The general public and political leaders in the United
States have recognized, since the founding of our country, that the
interests of corporations do not always correspond with the public
interest and that, therefore, the political influence of corporations
should be limited; and
   WHEREAS, In 1816, Thomas Jefferson wrote, "I hope we shall ...
crush in its] birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which
dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and
bid defiance to the laws of our country"; and
   WHEREAS, Article V of the United States Constitution empowers and
obligates the people and states of the United States of America to
use the constitutional amendment process to correct those egregiously
wrong decisions of the United States Supreme Court that go to the
heart of our democracy and republican form of self-government; and
   WHEREAS, Notwithstanding the decision in Citizens United v.
Federal Election Commission, legislators have a duty to protect
democracy and guard against the potentially detrimental effects of
corporate spending in local, state, and federal elections; now,
therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature of the State of California
respectfully disagrees with the majority opinion and decision of the
United States Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election
Commission; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Legislature of the State of California calls
upon the United States Congress to propose and send to the states for
ratification a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United
v. Federal Election Commission and to restore constitutional rights
and fair elections to the people; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United
States, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Minority
Leader of the House of Representatives, the Majority Leader of the
United States Senate, the Minority Leader of the United States
Senate, and to each Senator and Representative from California in the
Congress of the United States.