Florida Senate - 2015                                   SCR 1460
       
       
        
       By Senator Clemens
       
       
       
       
       
       27-01319A-15                                          20151460__
    1                    Senate Concurrent Resolution                   
    2         A concurrent resolution applying to Congress to call a
    3         convention for the purpose of proposing amendments to
    4         the Constitution of the United States.
    5  
    6         WHEREAS, the first President of the United States, George
    7  Washington, said that “the basis of our political system is the
    8  right of the people to make and to alter their Constitutions of
    9  Government,” and
   10         WHEREAS, it was the stated intention of the framers of the
   11  Constitution of the United States that the Congress of the
   12  United States should be “dependent on the people alone,” (James
   13  Madison, The Federalist No. 52), and
   14         WHEREAS, that dependency has evolved from a dependency on
   15  the people alone to a dependency on those who spend excessively
   16  in elections through campaigns or third-party groups, and
   17         WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court ruling in Citizens
   18  United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 310 (2010),
   19  removed restrictions on the amounts of independent political
   20  spending, and
   21         WHEREAS, the removal of these restrictions has resulted in
   22  the unjust influence of powerful economic forces, which has
   23  supplanted the will of the people by undermining the people’s
   24  ability to choose their political leadership, write their own
   25  laws, and determine the fate of this state, and
   26         WHEREAS, Article V of the Constitution of the United States
   27  requires Congress to call a convention to propose amendments
   28  upon the application of two-thirds of the legislatures of the
   29  several states for the purpose of proposing amendments to the
   30  Constitution, and
   31         WHEREAS, the State of Florida sees the need for a
   32  convention to propose amendments in order to address concerns
   33  such as those raised by the decision in Citizens United v.
   34  Federal Election Commission and related cases and events,
   35  including those occurring long before or afterward, or for a
   36  substantially similar purpose, and desires that said convention
   37  should be so limited, and
   38         WHEREAS, the State of Florida desires that the delegates to
   39  said convention be comprised equally of individuals currently
   40  elected to state and local office, or be selected by election in
   41  each congressional district, for the purpose of serving as
   42  delegates, though all individuals elected or appointed to
   43  federal office, now or in the past, be prohibited from serving
   44  as delegates to the convention, and intends to retain the
   45  ability to restrict or expand the power of its delegates within
   46  the limits expressed above, and
   47         WHEREAS, the State of Florida intends that this be a
   48  continuing application considered together with applications
   49  calling for a convention passed in the 2013-2014 Vermont General
   50  Assembly as Act No. R-454, the 2013-2014 California State
   51  Legislature as Resolution Chapter 77, the 2013-2014 Illinois
   52  General Assembly as Senate Joint Resolution No. 42, and all
   53  other passed, pending, and future applications, the
   54  aforementioned concerns of Florida notwithstanding until such
   55  time as two-thirds of the states have applied for a convention
   56  and said convention is convened by Congress, NOW, THEREFORE,
   57  
   58  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida, the House
   59  of Representatives Concurring:
   60  
   61         That the Legislature of the State of Florida, with all due
   62  respect, does hereby make application to the Congress of the
   63  United States pursuant to Article V of the Constitution of the
   64  United States to call a convention for the sole purpose of
   65  proposing amendments to the Constitution of the United States
   66  which would limit corporate personhood for purposes of campaign
   67  finance and political speech and further declare that money does
   68  not constitute speech and may be legislatively limited.
   69         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this concurrent resolution
   70  constitutes a continuing application to call a constitutional
   71  convention pursuant to Article V of the Constitution of the
   72  United States until such time that two-thirds of the
   73  legislatures of the several states apply to the United States
   74  Congress to call a constitutional convention for the sole
   75  purpose of proposing amendments to the Constitution of the
   76  United States which would limit corporate personhood for
   77  purposes of campaign finance and political speech and further
   78  declare that money does not constitute speech and may be
   79  legislatively limited.
   80         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this concurrent resolution is
   81  revoked and withdrawn, nullified, and superseded to the same
   82  effect as if it has never been passed, retroactive to the date
   83  of passage, if it is used for the purpose of calling a
   84  convention or used in support of conducting a convention to
   85  amend the Constitution of the United States for any purpose
   86  other than for the sole purpose set forth in this concurrent
   87  resolution.
   88         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this concurrent
   89  resolution be dispatched to the President of the United States,
   90  the President and President Pro Tempore of the United States
   91  Senate, the Speaker and the Minority Leader of the United States
   92  House of Representatives, each member of the Florida delegation
   93  to the United States Congress, and the presiding officers of
   94  each house of the several state legislatures.