Bill Text: HI SCR40 | 2016 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Petition for Convention for Purpose of Proposing Amendments to the United States Constitution; Elections; Campaign Financing

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-03-17 - Report adopted, as amended (SD 1) and referred to JDL. [SCR40 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2016-SCR40-Amended.html

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THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	40
TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2016		S.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

PETITIONING CONGRESS FOR A LIMITED AMENDMENTS CONVENTION FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROPOSING A FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION.

 

 

     WHEREAS, the first President of the United States, George Washington, stated, "The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their Constitutions of Government."; and

 

     WHEREAS, it was the stated intention of the framers of the Constitution of the United States of America that the Congress of the United States of America should be "dependent on the people alone."; and

 

     WHEREAS, that dependency has evolved from a dependency on the people alone to a dependency on those who spend excessively in elections, through campaigns or third-party groups; and

 

     WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 310 (2010), removed restrictions on amounts of independent political spending; and

 

     WHEREAS, the removal of those restrictions has resulted in the unjust influence of powerful economic forces, which have supplanted the will of the people by undermining their ability to choose political leadership, write their own laws, and determine the fate of the state; and

 

     WHEREAS, Article V of the United States Constitution requires the United States Congress to call a convention for proposing amendments upon application of two-thirds of the legislatures of the several states for the purpose of proposing amendments to the United States Constitution; and

 

     WHEREAS, this body sees the need for a convention to propose amendments in order to address concerns such as those raised by the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and related cases and events including those occurring long before or afterward or for a substantially similar purpose, and desires that the convention should be so limited; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-eighth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2016, the House of Representatives concurring, that the people of the State of Hawaii, speaking through its Legislature and pursuant to Article V of the United States Constitution, in light of the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 130 (2010), petition the United States Congress to call a convention for the purpose of proposing amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America as soon as two-thirds of the several states have applied for a convention to address:

 

     (1)  Whether money spent on candidate elections and ballot measures should constitute "speech" under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution;

 

     (2)  How "corruption" is defined for purposes of the government's interest in protecting the democratic process; and

 

     (3)  Whether and to what degree independent campaign expenditures corrupt the political process; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this be a continuing application considered together with applications calling for a convention passed in the 2013-2014 Vermont Legislature as R454, the 2013-2014 California Legislature as Resolution Chapter 77, the 98th Illinois General Assembly as Senate Joint Resolution No. 42, the 2014-2015 New Jersey Legislature as SCR 132, and all other passed, pending, and future applications, the aforementioned concerns of Hawaii notwithstanding until such time as two-thirds of the several states have applied for a convention and the convention is convened by Congress; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the delegates to the convention be comprised equally of individuals currently elected to state and local office, or be selected by election, in each Congressional district for the purpose of serving as delegates, though all individuals elected or appointed to federal office, now or in the past, be prohibited from serving as delegates to the convention, and that this body intends to retain the ability to restrict or expand the power of its delegates within the limits expressed above; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, Vice President of the United States, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives, President Pro Tempore of the United States Senate, Hawaii's congressional delegation, Governor of each State, and presiding officer of each legislative body of each of the several states.

Report Title: 

Petition for Convention for Purpose of Proposing Amendments to the United States Constitution; Elections; Campaign Financing