BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  AJR 22
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   March 20, 2012



                           ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY
                                  Mike Feuer, Chair
             AJR 22 (Wieckowski and Allen) - As Amended:  March 14, 2012
                                           
          SUBJECT  :   Campaign Finance Reform: CItizens United 

           KEY ISSUE  :  Should the California Legislature memorialize its 
          opposition to Citizens United and call upon Congress to propose 
          a constitutional amendment to overturn the decision? 

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  As currently in print this resolution in 
          non-fiscal. 

                                      SYNOPSIS

          This joint resolution calls upon the U.S. Congress to propose a 
          constitutional amendment that will overturn Citizens United, the 
          U.S. Supreme Court's controversial decision in 2010.  That 
          decision struck down key provisions of the federal 
          McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law and, in the process, 
          overturned several prior decisions upholding the right of 
          Congress and the states to impose limits on campaign 
          contributions and expenditures.  Controversy over the Court's 
          ruling has not abated over the past two years.  Indeed, national 
          concern about the Court's ruling has substantially intensified 
          now that we have entered a presidential election year with 
          reports of "super PACS" collecting unprecedented millions of 
          dollars from secret individual donors - sums reportedly far 
          exceeding what the candidates themselves are raising.  This 
          resolution is part of a national movement calling upon Congress 
          to overturn Citizens United.  At the time of this writing, more 
          than a dozen resolutions proposing a constitutional amendment 
          had been introduced in the U.S. House or the U.S. Senate.  Two 
          states, New Mexico and Hawaii, have already passed resolutions 
          calling upon Congress to propose and send to the states a 
          resolution overturning Citizens United, and at least eight other 
          states (not including California) have resolutions pending.  
          Several cities within California, including Los Angeles and 
          Oakland, have passed resolutions to the same effect, and dozens 
          of organizations nationwide have circulated petitions in support 
          of a constitutional amendment.  According to the authors, more 








                                                                  AJR 22
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          than one million people have signed these petitions.  This 
          resolution is supported by several public interest, consumer, 
          and labor groups.  There is no registered opposition. 


           SUMMARY  :  Memorializes the Legislature's disagreement with the 
          decision of the United States Supreme Court in Citizens United 
          v. Federal Election Commission and calls upon the United States 
          Congress to propose and send to the states for ratification a 
          constitutional amendment that would overturn Citizens United.  
          Specifically,  this resolution  : 


          1)Makes various declarations as to the unprecedented nature of 
            Citizens United and the potential that corporations will 
            misuse the First Amendment to unleash a torrent of money into 
            political campaigns.


          2)Notes the duty of legislators to protect democracy and guard 
            against the potentially detrimental effects of corporate 
            spending in local, state, and federal elections, and as such, 
            resolves the following:
               a)     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 Elections Commission.
               b)     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.
               c)     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. 


           EXISTING LAW  :









                                                                  AJR 22
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          1)Holds that limitations on political campaign financing 
            implicate the free speech rights protected by the First 
            Amendment; therefore, any government attempt to regulate the 
            financing of political campaigns must serve a compelling 
            government interest and be narrowly tailored to serve that 
            interest.  (See e.g. McConnell v. FEC (2003) 540 U.S. 93, 136; 
            Davis v. FEC (2008) 128 S. Ct. 2759, 2772 n.7.) 


          2)Recognizes, as to restrictions on campaign financing, only one 
            interest sufficiently compelling to outweigh the First 
            Amendment right of free speech: preventing corruption or the 
            appearance of corruption.  (Citizens United v. FEC 2010 U.S. 
            LEXIS 766; SpeechNow.org v. FEC (2010) 599 F. 3d. 686.) 


          3)Holds that both "contributions" to a candidate and 
            "expenditures" on behalf of a candidate are forms of speech 
            protected by the First Amendment; however, holds that 
            government only has a "compelling interest" in regulating 
            contributions, as opposed to expenditures, because only 
            contributions can reasonably give rise to corruption or the 
            appearance of corruption.  (Citizens United v. FEC 2010 U.S. 
            LEXIS 766 Buckley v. Valeo (1976) 424 U.S. 1, 19-27, 48-49.)


          4)Provides that neither Congress nor the states shall enact any 
            law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting 
            the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, 
            or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to 
            assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of 
            grievances.  (Amendment I of the United States Constitution; 
            applied to the states by Amendment XIV of the United States 
            Constitution.) 


           COMMENTS :  In Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission 
          (2010), the U.S. Supreme Court considered a provision of the 
          federal Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) of 2002, also 
          known as "McCain-Feingold" for its joint Senate authors.  The 
          provision in question prohibited corporations and unions from 
          using general treasury funds to make "independent expenditures" 
          for "electioneering communications" within 60 days of a general 
          election or within 30 days of a primary election.  At issue in 








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          Citizens United was a controversial documentary entitled, 
          Hillary, which was highly critical of then-Senator Hillary 
          Rodham Clinton, a candidate in the 2008 Democratic presidential 
          primary.  Citizen's United, a non-profit corporation, wanted to 
          make the documentary available by "video-on-demand" within the 
          30 days of the primary election.  Concerned that the broadcast 
          might be prohibited by BCRA, Citizens United sought declaratory 
          and injunctive relief that the BCRA did not apply to the 
          documentary and, indeed, would be unconstitutional if applied to 
          the showing of Hillary.  A district court denied the request.  
          Citizens United appealed to the United States Supreme Court.  


           Citizens United originally only asked the Court to find that 
          BCRA did not apply to the Hillary broadcast, and would therefore 
          be unconstitutional as applied in its case.  For example, 
          Citizens United argued that, as a matter of statutory 
          interpretation, the film was not an "electioneering 
          communication" as defined in BCRA.  Most notably, Citizens 
          United argued that the film was only available to viewers who 
          subscribed to "video-on-demand" and had purposefully elected to 
          watch it; therefore, Citizens United contended, it was not 
          "publicly broadcast" within the meaning of the BCRA.  
          Additionally, Citizens United pointed to other facts that 
          allegedly made BCRA inapplicable: for example, Citizens United 
          argued that BCRA did not apply to nonprofit corporations and 
          that the content of the film, while critical, fell short of the 
          kind of "express advocacy" that the law targeted. 


          Despite these much narrower grounds upon which the Supreme Court 
          could have decided the case in favor of Citizens United, the 
          Court instead asked the parties to submit supplemental briefs on 
          the constitutionality of the BCRA provisions in question, and 
          whether the Court should overturn parts of earlier opinions 
          (discussed below) that had upheld the right of Congress and the 
          states to impose limits on corporate campaign expenditures.  
          After reframing the question in this way, the Court then 
          proceeded not only to strike down the provisions of the BCRA, 
          but to overturn long-standing precedents upholding the 
          constitutionality of federal and state efforts to regulate 
          campaign financing.  In order to fully appreciate the degree to 
          which Citizens United departed from past Supreme Court holdings 
          it is necessary to briefly consider some of the initial cases 
          that treated campaign contributions and expenditures as forms of 








                                                                  AJR 22
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          "speech" protected under the First Amendment.   


           Background: Buckley and its Progeny  .  Although the courts have 
          consistently held that both campaign contributions and campaign 
          expenditures are forms of protected speech, the courts have held 
          that only limitations on "contributions" can be justified by a 
          compelling state interest.  In the seminal case of Buckley v. 
          Valeo (1976) 424 U.S. 1, the U.S. Supreme Court considered a 
          challenge to the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) as amended 
          in 1974.  The 1974 amendments imposed caps on both the amount of 
          the contribution that an individual or committee could give to a 
          federal candidate, as well as a cap on the expenditures that an 
          individual or committee could make on behalf of a candidate.  In 
          addition, the 1974 amendments limited the amount of expenditures 
          that a candidate could make from personal funds.  (2 USC Section 
          441 (1994); 18 USC Section 608 (e) (1) (subsequently repealed.) 


           Buckley's Strict Scrutiny Standard  :  In considering the validity 
          of the FECA amendments, the Court in Buckley made a distinction 
          between "contributions" and "expenditures."  Buckley reasoned 
          that both contributions and expenditures were forms of speech 
          protected by the First Amendment and, therefore, Congress could 
          only prohibit that speech if it served a "compelling 
          governmental interest" and used means "narrowly tailored" to 
          serve that interest.  In short, because the First Amendment 
          entails a fundamental right, the Court will apply "strict 
          scrutiny."


          Applying this reasoning to FECA, the Court held in Buckley that 
          Congress could properly limit "contributions" to candidates 
          because such limits served a compelling governmental interest in 
          preventing the actuality or appearance of quid pro quo 
          corruption.  However, the Court stated that "expenditures" by 
          the candidate - or "independent expenditures" made on behalf of, 
          but not directly to, the candidate - did not, in its collective 
          judgment, create the same likelihood of actual or apparent quid 
          pro quo corruption.  Therefore the Court found in Buckley that 
          Congress' action to limit such campaign expenditures did not 
          meet the "compelling interest" requirement.  (Buckley, supra, at 
          19-27, 48-49.)  Although Buckley struck down a federal law 
          pertaining to federal elections, the same reasoning would apply 
          to state efforts to limit campaign expenditures.  For example, 








                                                                  AJR 22
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          in First National Bank of Boston v. Belotti (1978) 435 U.S. 765, 
          the Court struck down a state law limiting campaign 
          expenditures.  


          It is important to stress that Buckley did  not  say that state or 
          federal law could  never  restrict campaign expenditures.  Rather, 
          it said that any laws restricting either contributions or 
          expenditures could only be justified by a "compelling interest" 
          that was narrowly tailored to serve that interest.  The Buckley 
          Court found, to the chagrin of many commentators then and now, 
          that the nexus between "expenditures" and quid pro quo 
          corruption was not strong enough to create a "compelling" 
          governmental interest for regulation of campaign expenditures in 
          the facts of that case.  In other words: if a state could show 
          that it had a compelling interest in limiting expenditures, and 
          used narrowly tailored means to achieve that interest, then a 
          limitation on expenditures could, in theory, pass constitutional 
          muster.  


           Austin v. Michigan Chamber:   Several years later, the Supreme 
          Court recognized just such a compelling interest in limiting 
          expenditures as well as contributions.  In Austin v. Michigan 
          Chamber of Commerce (1990) the Court upheld a state law that 
          prohibited corporations from using corporate treasury funds for 
          independent expenditures to support or oppose any candidate for 
          state office. The law, however, still allowed a corporation to 
          use "segregated funds" (e.g. voluntary donations by shareholders 
          to a separate fund) to fund political action committees.  The 
          Court upheld the statute against a First Amendment challenge on 
          the grounds that the law served a "compelling governmental 
          interest" in preventing the "distortion" that is created when a 
          corporation can create large aggregations of wealth that bear no 
          relationship to the public's support of its political ideas.    


           The Enactment of McCain-Feingold  :  Although decisions like 
          Austin permitted certain narrow regulations of independent 
          campaign expenditures, it was not long before candidates, 
          corporations, and political parties found creative ways around 
          the proscriptions.  These efforts to circumvent regulations 
          produced landmark legislation in Congress that sought to counter 
          the most troublesome types of campaign financing techniques.  
          The most notable legislative achievement was the BCRA of 2002, 








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          known as "McCain-Feingold."  Although the McCain-Feingold 
          primarily sought to regulate so-called "soft money" (i.e. 
          channeling contributions to candidates through parties), it also 
          enacted provisions banning corporate and union financing of 
          "electioneering communications" in designated periods 
          immediately preceding a primary or general election.  


           McConnell v. FEC  :  The Supreme Court first considered the 
          constitutionality of McCain-Feingold in McConnell v. FEC (2003) 
          540 U.S. 93.  The complicated McConnell ruling - with the 5-4 
          decision producing eight different opinions - upheld most of the 
          provisions of the law, including the exact provision struck down 
          by Citizens United only seven years later.  Specifically, the 
          Court in McConnell upheld limitations on the use of corporate 
          and union treasury funds to finance campaign advertisements that 
          were the "functional equivalent" of express advocacy.  Although 
          the many opinions issued in McConnell are almost impossible to 
          summarize, the majority clearly held that regulations of the 
          source, content, and timing of political advertising - so long 
          as those regulations do not amount to a complete ban - do not 
          violate the First Amendment.  Importantly, the lead opinion by 
          Justices O'Connor and Stevens reasoned that government had a 
          legitimate interest in preventing "both the actual corruption 
          threatened by large financial contributions . . . and the 
          appearance of corruption."  O'Connor and Stevens noted that 
          "money, like water, will always find an outlet," and Congress 
          can surely respond when groups devise schemes to circumvent 
          contribution limits. 


           Campaign Spending On Steroids?"  The Reaction to Citizens 
          United  :  In overturning both its Austin and McConnell decisions, 
          the Supreme Court in Citizens United rejected its earlier idea 
          that "distortion" constitutes a compelling governmental interest 
          and held that corporations and unions are now free to spend 
          unlimited amounts on "independent expenditures" -- even for 
          advertisements that expressly mention the candidate by name.  
          Although most immediately the decision only struck down a 
          provision of federal law, by implication, Citizens United 
          arguably renders unenforceable laws in 24 states (California is 
          not one of them) that impose limits on independent expenditures 
          similar to the BCRA provision that the Court struck down. 










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          Citizens United has been roundly criticized by many political 
          and legal commentators because it removes virtually all limits 
          on corporation and union expenditures.  In addition, it has also 
          been condemned as an unabashed and some say ironic example of 
          profound judicial activism by the very justices who usually laud 
          judicial restraint.  Professor Erwin Chemerinsky, for example, 
          describes the opinion as "a stunning example of judicial 
          activism," insofar as it not only failed to show any deference 
          to Congress, but also because it overturned years of precedent.  
          (Chemerinsky, "Who are the Judicial Activists Now?" Los Angeles 
          Times, January 22, 2010.) What makes this activism all the more 
          remarkable, many others have noted, is that the Court could have 
          decided the case on much narrower grounds.  Indeed, Justice 
          Stevens, quoting a prior appeals court opinion by Chief Justice 
          Roberts, noted that the "cardinal" principle of the judicial 
          process is, "if it is not necessary to decide more, it is 
          necessary not to decide more" - yet that is precisely what the 
          Court's conservative majority proceeded to do.  �Citizens 
          United, supra at 164, Stevens, J. dissenting.)]  As Professor 
          Richard Hasen of Loyola Law School put it "in Citizens United 
          the Supreme Court ignored the well-established doctrine of 
          'constitutional avoidance,' by which it avoids deciding tough 
          constitutional questions when there is a plausible way to make a 
          narrower ruling based on a plain old statute."  (Quoted in David 
          Kirkpatrick, "Lobbyists Get Potent Weapon in Campaign Ruling," 
          New York Times, January 21, 2010.) 


          According to Republican campaign strategist Benjamin Ginsberg, 
          the decision may also take more campaign control away from the 
          candidates and parties, as independent groups seek to shape the 
          issues whether the candidates or parties agree with the 
          characterizations or not.  According to Ginsberg, the decision 
          "will put on steroids the trend that outside groups are 
          increasingly dominating campaigns.  Candidates lose control of 
          the message �and] . . . parties will sort of shrink in the 
          relative importance of things."  (Quoted in Kirkpartrick, 
          supra.)  Writing in the Christian Science Monitor, Common Cause 
          President Bob Edgar flatly asserted that the decision was "bad 
          for democracy," and he called upon Congress to "respond swiftly 
          and forcefully to ensure that corporations do not take over our 
          political process."  (Bod Edgar, Supreme Court's Campaign 
          Ruling: A Bad Day for Democracy," Christian Science Monitor, 
          January 22, 2010.)  Indeed, members of Congress tried to respond 
          with various legislative fixes, but the ruling appears to leave 








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          a very limited range of options, such as enhancing existing 
          disclosure requirements or requiring corporations to get some 
          form of approval from shareholders.  (David Kirkpatrick, 
          "Democrats Try to Rebuild Campaign-Spending Barriers," New York 
          Times, February 12, 2010.)  It is precisely because of these 
          legislative constraints that Congress, and many others, are now 
          looking to amend the Constitution in order to undo the effects 
          of Citizens United. 


           The Less-Noted SpeechNow.org v. FEC Decision and the Rise of the 
          "Super PAC":   Although it received much less attention than 
          Citizens United, a decision by the United States Circuit Court 
          of Appeal for the Second District, a week after Citizens United, 
          has arguably had an even greater impact than Citizens United.  
          Some commentators contend that this decision, coupled with 
          Citizens United, opened the door for the so-called "Super PACS" 
          that have been much discussed during the presidential primary.  
          In SpeechNow.org v FEC (2010) 599 F. 3d 686, a suit was brought 
          against the FEC by an unincorporated nonprofit association 
          registered as a "political organization" under Section 527 of 
          the Internal Revenue Code.  The organization, known as 
          SpeechNow, claims that it is dedicated to the protection of free 
          speech and supports political candidates who share its views.  
          SpeechNow apparently only takes money from individuals and only 
          uses the funds collected for independent expenditures.  That is, 
          it does not make contributions directly candidates, but instead 
          independently runs ads on a candidate's behalf without 
          coordinating with the candidate.  After failing to get an 
          advisory opinion from the FEC, SpeechNow filed a complaint in 
          federal district court seeking declaratory relief against 
          federal law limiting contributions to political committees to 
          $5000.  When the district court denied the request for 
          declaratory relief, SpeechNow appealed to the Circuit Court. 



          Unlike Citizens United, the SpeechNo.org v. FEC did not involve 
          a limitation on expenditures, as such, but involved a 
          contribution to a political committee that only made independent 
          expenditures.  Nonetheless, in reaching its opinion the Circuit 
          Court of Appeal relied upon Citizens United, and in particular 
          its reasoning that limits on independent expenditures were 
          unconstitutional because expenditures, unlike direct 
          contributions to candidates, did not create a danger or 








                                                                  AJR 22
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          perception of quid pro quo corruption, and therefore could not 
          serve a compelling government interest that could justify 
          restriction of First Amendment rights.  Following this 
                                                    reasoning, the Court held that the government could not restrict 
          contributions, whether by individuals or by corporations, to 
          political committees that were only used for independent 
          expenditures.  The FEC had tried to argue Citizens United upheld 
          limits on contributions, but the court in SpeechNow.org reasoned 
          that if independent expenditures do not create a danger or 
          appearance of corruption, then contributions to a committee that 
          only makes independent expenditures do not create a danger or 
          appearance of corruption.  Specifically, the Court held that "in 
          light of the Court's holding �in Citizens United] it is a matter 
          of law that independent expenditures do not corrupt or create 
          the appearance of quid pro quo corruption, �therefore] 
          contributions to groups that make only independent expenditures 
          also cannot corrupt or create the appearance of corruption."  



          Accordingly, the court ruled in favor of SpeechNow.org and held 
          contribution limitations in FECA cannot be constitutionally 
          applied against persons who wish to contribute more than $5000 
          to "expenditure only" political action committee.  Therefore, 
          while many commentators opined that one possible bright spot in 
          Citizens United was that it preserved limitations on 
          "contributions," the SpeechNow.org decision suggests that this 
          may only apply to limitations on contributions directly to 
          candidates or the candidate's campaign, but not to limitations 
          on contributions to committees that only make independent 
          expenditures.  This decision, therefore, opened the door to 
          so-called "Super PACS" or "expenditure only" political action 
          committees.  The traditional political action committee 
          typically used its funds both to make direct contributions to 
          candidates and to make independent expenditures for political 
          advertisements on behalf of a candidate (albeit not done in 
          coordination with the candidate.)  So long as a political action 
          committee used funds for both purposes, federal law limited 
          contributions to the committee to $5000 per year per individual. 
           But the new super PACs which have been created in the wake of 
          the SpeechNow.org decision, so long as they designate themselves 
          as "expenditure only," are not subject to any limitations on the 
          contributions that they can receive.  (On "super PACs" and their 
          relationship to the SpeechNow.org ruling see the website of the 
          Center for Responsive Politics at 








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           http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/superpacs.php?cycle=2012  .)  As 
          noted numerous press reports, the super PACS have played an 
          extremely important role in the Republican primaries thus far 
          and are expected to play an even greater role in the general 
          election.  (See, e.g., "Obama Fears Uphill Climb in Raising 
          'Super PAC' Money," New York Times, March 13, 2012.) 


           National, State, and Local Calls for Constitutional Amendment  .  
          At the time of this writing, at least 13 resolutions seeking to 
          overturn Citizens United had been introduced in either the U.S. 
          House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate.  Although all seek 
          to overturn Citizens United, they do so in different ways.  Some 
          of the resolutions simply call for overturning Citizens United 
          without stating which of the Court's several holdings would be 
          overturned.  (See e.g. H.J. Res. 86, introduced by Rep. Sutton; 
          S.J. Res. 29, introduced by Senators Harkin et.al.)  Some of the 
          resolutions introduced thus far proclaim, in one way or another, 
          that corporations are not "natural persons" and thereby not 
          protected by any of the rights protected by the United States 
          Constitution.  (See e.g. H.J. Res. 90, introduced by Rep. 
          Deutch; S.F. Res. 33, introduced by Senator Sanders; and H.J. 88 
          by Rep. McGovern.)  Still others would overturn Citizens United 
          more narrowly by merely affirming Congress' power to regulate 
          campaign contributions and expenditures.  (See e.g. H.J. Res. 
          72, introduced by Rep. Schrader; H.J. Res. 8, introduced by Rep. 
          Kaptur.)  State and local resolutions calling upon Congress to 
          propose and submit a constitutional amendment similarly vary in 
          terms of which aspects of Citizens United should be overturned. 


           How Much of Citizens United should be overturned  ?  While all of 
          the resolutions proposed thus far have called for overturning 
          Citizens United, the question of which of its many holdings 
          should be overturned is a highly significant one.  For example, 
          AJR 22 declares that the First Amendment was designed to 
          "protect the speech of free people, not corporations," and much 
          of the popular reaction to the decision has expressed concern 
          over the underlying premises that corporations are "persons" and 
          that spending money is "speech."  Thus far however, as noted 
          above, the courts have held that corporate bodies are indeed 
          protected by the First Amendment, and by many other 
          Constitutional provisions as well.  










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          Citizens United therefore did not depart from precedent when it 
          held that corporate campaign spending is speech protected by the 
          First Amendment.  Where the case did depart from precedent was 
          in its finding that limiting independent expenditures was never 
          a sufficiently compelling justification for restricting speech 
          because, unlike direct contributions to candidates, it did not 
          create the danger or appearance of quid pro quo corruption.  


          Thus, general resolutions to "overturn" Citizens United could 
          mean many things.  Most narrowly, they could mean restoring the 
          McConnell ruling thereby reaffirming Congress' power to regulate 
          campaign expenditures in the manner of McCain-Feingold.  
          Somewhat more broadly, they could mean restoring Austin and 
          recognizing that prevention of "distortion" as a sufficiently 
          "compelling" justification for government restrictions on 
          corporate campaign contributions and expenditures.  More broadly 
          still, they could expressly advocate declaring that corporations 
          are not "natural persons" and therefore not protected by the 
          First Amendment.  


           ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT  :  According to the authors, the "U.S. 
          Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election 
          Commission ignored precedent and opened the door for unlimited 
          corporate donations advocating for and against candidates.  AJR 
          22 would put California's legislature on record in opposition to 
          this ruling and would call upon the U.S. Congress to propose and 
          send to the states for ratification a constitutional amendment 
          to overturn Citizens United and restore constitutional rights 
          and fair elections to the people."  The authors contend that AJR 
          22 is part of a "national grassroots movement" that believes 
          that "�c]orporations are not people and money is not speech."  
          The authors also contend that people's trust of government is at 
          an all-time low, and that decisions like Citizens United only 
          "further erode the public's faith that the people's interest 
          will come before those of wealthy special interests."  Quoting 
          Justice Stevens' dissent in Citizens United, the authors contend 
          "legislators have a compelling constitutional basis, if not also 
          a democratic duty, to take measures designed to guard against 
          the potentially deleterious effects of corporate spending in 
          local and national elections."  The authors believe that AJR 22 
          will "send a message that we want Congress to perform that 
          democratic duty." 









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          Consumer Watchdog supports this measure because it believes that 
          "�n]o single factor does more damage to democracy than the 
          corrosive influence of corporate money in politics.  The public 
          interest is repeatedly and effectively overwhelmed by the flood 
          of corporate spending in political campaigns."  Similarly, 
          Common Cause contends that Citizens United has "allowed a 
          torrent of unlimited special interest funds into our federal 
          elections" and "allow special interests to influence politics 
          through their general treasuries and would ultimately sway 
          government policies towards the needs of the interests and not 
          the needs of the voters." 


          Public Citizen contends that the "vast majority of the American 
          people are outraged by the Court's decision" in Citizens United, 
          citing a recent poll purportedly showing that across the 
          political spectrum Republicans, Democrats, and Independents 
          opposed the ruling by a margin of almost four-to-one.  Public 
          Citizen also claims that we are already seeing the negative 
          consequences of the decision, citing reports indicating a 427% 
          increase in the 2010 election cycle.  �Note: It is not clear 
          what the 2010 election figure was compared to reach this 
          staggering percentage increase.]  Finally, Public Citizen argued 
          that there is "a powerful and fast-growing movement" calling for 
          a constitutional amendment, and it urges the Judiciary Committee 
          members "to be part of this historical moment and pass AJR 22." 


          Finally, Move to Amend, supports this resolution but asks that 
          it be amended "to include the phrases 'money isn't speech' and 
          'corporations are not persons.'  This language is critical 
          because illegitimate corporate power didn't begin with Citizens 
          United-indeed, for over 120 years, the Supreme Court has granted 
          corporations more and more of the rights enshrined by the 
          Founders for We the People-and fixing Citizens United won't end 
          corporate domination of our communities, economy, and polity."  
          Move to Amend contends that overturning Citizens United will 
          only bring us part of the way.  Instead, Move to Amend believes 
          that "we need to end the fiction of corporate personhood itself. 
           Let's amend the Constitution in a way that abolishes all rights 
          wrongly granted to corporations during the last two centuries".











                                                                  AJR 22
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           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   
           
          Support 
           
          California Church Impact 
          California Labor Federation
          California League of Conservation Votes
          California Nurses Associations 
          California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG) 
          Common Cause  
          Consumer Watchdog
          Davis City Council 
          International Forum on Globalization 
          Move to Amend (If amended) 
          Public Citizen 
          More than 10,000 individuals who signed a Public Citizen 
          petition in support of AJR 22

           Opposition 
           
          None on file 
           

          Analysis Prepared by  :    Thomas Clark / JUD. / (916) 319-2334