GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2015

H                                                                                                                                                    1

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 125*

Sponsors:	Representatives Insko, Harrison, Fisher, and Queen (Primary Sponsors). For a complete list of Sponsors, refer to the North Carolina General Assembly Web Site.
Referred to:	Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House.

March 3, 2015

A JOINT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THAT CONGRESS PROPOSE AN AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION TO OVERTURN THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT RULING IN CITIZENS UNITED V. FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION CONCERNING CORPORATE CAMPAIGN SPENDING.

Whereas, on January 21, 2010, the United States Supreme Court, by a five to four decision, in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, overturned important provisions of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, as well as earlier Supreme Court decisions, and swept away a century of tradition barring corporate spending in elections in the United States; and

Whereas, the United States Supreme Court's ruling holds that corporations are people with free speech rights under the United States Constitution and may engage in unlimited corporate spending on elections; and

Whereas, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission has unleashed the use of corporate money into the political process unmatched by any campaign expenditure totals in United States history; and

Whereas, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission presents a serious and direct threat to republican democracy; and

Whereas, the decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission grants excessive power to corporate and union interests and threatens to overwhelm the voices of individual citizens in the political process; 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 republican democracy and self‑government; and

Whereas, artificial entities, such as corporations and labor unions are legal entities that governments regulate, and the privileges they enjoy under the United States Constitution should be more narrowly defined than the rights that are afforded to human persons; and

Whereas, the people and states of the United States of America have strengthened the nation and preserved liberty and equality for all by using the amendment process throughout the history of the nation, including seven of 10 decades of the twentieth century, and through that process have reversed seven erroneous Supreme Court decisions; Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:

SECTION 1.  The North Carolina General Assembly calls upon Congress to propose and send to the states for ratification an amendment to the Constitution to affirm the following:

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

(2)        That the spending of money to influence elections is not protected free speech under the First Amendment.

(3)        That the privileges of artificial entities such as corporations, limited liability companies, labor unions, for profit and not for profit, and other entities shall not be construed to be inherent or inalienable and are subject to regulation by the people, through federal, State, or local law.

(4)        That nothing contained in the amendment shall be construed to abridge the freedom of the press.

SECTION 2.  The Secretary of State shall transmit a certified copy of this resolution to each member of North Carolina's congressional delegation.

SECTION 3.  This resolution is effective upon ratification.