86R12466 KSM-D
 
  By: Anchia H.C.R. No. 68
 
 
 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
         WHEREAS, In Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission,
  the United States Supreme Court cast off precedent and
  long-standing campaign finance laws, which has resulted in
  unlimited corporate spending in elections; and
         WHEREAS, The majority ruled that political spending is a form
  of protected speech under the First Amendment and that the
  government may not prevent corporations from giving money to
  support or oppose individual candidates for public office; the
  United States Constitution, however, does not mention
  corporations, and there is no evidence that the framers of the
  constitution wished to extend to corporations the same rights as
  natural persons in the electoral context; and
         WHEREAS, Corporations, as the four dissenting judges noted in
  their opinion, are legal entities, and the conditional rights of
  corporations are granted not by the constitution but rather through
  the legislative deliberations of Congress and the states; and
         WHEREAS, Unlike natural persons, corporations are granted
  certain privileges, including limited liability, perpetual life,
  and favorable treatment of the accumulation and distribution of
  assets, that enhance their ability to attract capital and to
  maximize the return on their shareholders' investments; yet these
  very privileges give corporations the financial capacity to drown
  out the individual voices of natural persons; moreover,
  corporations may be under the control of citizens of foreign
  countries who are ineligible to participate in our elections; and
         WHEREAS, Corporate money now spent in election campaigns
  threatens the free speech protections of individuals and the
  integrity and fairness of our electoral procedures, and the
  amendment process must be used to reverse this erroneous and
  damaging decision; now, therefore, be it
         RESOLVED, That the 86th Legislature of the State of Texas
  hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to
  propose and submit to the states for ratification an amendment to
  the United States Constitution that overturns the Supreme Court
  decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission; and, be
  it further
         RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
  copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
  the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of
  Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the
  members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that
  this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a
  memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.