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SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 16
IN THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE - SECOND SESSION
BY SENATORS KAWASAKI, Gray-Jackson, Begich, Kiehl, Wielechowski
Introduced: 2/7/20
Referred: State Affairs
A RESOLUTION
1 Supporting an amendment to the United States Constitution stating that the
2 Constitution does not create, grant, or protect constitutional rights of corporations or
3 other artificial entities, recognizing that the United States government may limit
4 expenditures of money to influence elections and public policy, and overturning the
5 decision of the United States Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election
6 Commission.
7 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:
8 WHEREAS the right of human beings to self-governance lies at the heart of
9 democracy; and
10 WHEREAS the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution
11 recognize that human beings possess certain inalienable rights; and
12 WHEREAS the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution do
13 not discuss or grant rights to corporations or to artificial entities other than the United States
14 and its constituent states; and
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1 WHEREAS, because corporations and other artificial entities are not and have never
2 been human beings, they are entitled only to powers and protections granted to them by the
3 people; and
4 WHEREAS recent judicial decisions, including the 2010 United States Supreme
5 Court opinion issued in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission at 558 U.S. 310,
6 have held that corporations and other artificial entities are "persons" under the United States
7 Constitution, empowered to spend unlimited funds on political speech, thereby influencing
8 elections and otherwise undermining the power of the people to self-governance; and
9 WHEREAS, if freedom of speech is equated with freedom to spend money, the free
10 speech of the majority may be overwhelmed by the messages of a few; and
11 WHEREAS the people are supreme and may overrule the United States Supreme
12 Court by amending the United States Constitution; and
13 WHEREAS 20 state governments have already passed resolutions calling for an
14 amendment to the United States Constitution to address those issues; and
15 WHEREAS the Assembly of the Kenai Peninsula Borough, the Homer City Council,
16 the City and Borough Assembly of Sitka, and the Anchorage Municipal Assembly have
17 already passed resolutions calling for an amendment to the United States Constitution to
18 address those issues;
19 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature, together with the people of the
20 state, support and call for an amendment to the United States Constitution stating that the
21 Constitution does not create, grant, or protect constitutional rights of corporations or other
22 artificial entities, authorizing the federal government to limit expenditures of money to
23 influence elections and public policy, and overturning the 2010 decision of the United States
24 Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission at 558 U.S. 310.
25 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Donald J. Trump, President
26 of the United States; the Honorable Michael R. Pence, Vice President of the United States and
27 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of
28 Representatives; the Honorable Mitch McConnell, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; and
29 the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Dan Sullivan, U.S. Senators, and the
30 Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.
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