Bill Text: TX SCR28 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Urging Congress to propose and send to the states for ratification a constitutional amendment to clarify that the states and Congress may reasonably regulate and limit the spending of money to influence campaigns, elections, or ballot measures.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2025-03-10 - Referred to State Affairs [SCR28 Detail]
Download: Texas-2025-SCR28-Introduced.html
| 89R14306 BPG-D | ||
| By: Paxton | S.C.R. No. 28 | |
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| WHEREAS, Our nation was founded on the principle of popular | ||
| sovereignty, with a government of, by, and for the American people, | ||
| and each generation has a responsibility to ensure that the promise | ||
| of self-government is open to all Americans; and | ||
| WHEREAS, The framers of the U.S. Constitution recognized the | ||
| peril of allowing outside influences to infiltrate our politics; | ||
| Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 of the Constitution forbids | ||
| officeholders from accepting any manner of title or financial | ||
| compensation from a foreign power; in The Federalist No. 68, | ||
| Alexander Hamilton warned of "the desire in foreign powers to gain | ||
| an improper ascendant in our councils," while, in his farewell | ||
| address, George Washington cautioned that "history and experience | ||
| prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of | ||
| republican government"; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Through the years, Congress has passed a variety of | ||
| legislation to combat foreign interference, such as the Federal | ||
| Election Campaign Act, which includes a ban on spending by foreign | ||
| nationals in federal, state, and local elections; today, however, | ||
| our broken system of election spending makes it easy for foreign | ||
| entities to spend millions of dollars to influence our elections | ||
| and ballot initiatives, through such means as illegal donations | ||
| directly to candidates, hidden contributions to dark money groups, | ||
| influence campaigns, and brazen spending in ballot elections by | ||
| government-owned entities; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Decades of judicial overreach have also enabled | ||
| domestic actors to drown out the voices of individual voters; | ||
| Supreme Court decisions degrading transparency and equating | ||
| unlimited election spending with "free speech" have allowed | ||
| billionaires, corporations, unions, and other wealthy special | ||
| interests to dominate and distort the public discourse, narrowing | ||
| debate, weakening federalism and state self-governance, and | ||
| increasing the risk of systemic corruption; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Like the U.S. Constitution, the Constitution of | ||
| Texas affirms that political power rests with the people in our | ||
| republican form of government; our continued liberty depends | ||
| heavily on protecting free speech interests of individual citizens | ||
| and maintaining the integrity of our elections and our government | ||
| in the face of outside pressures; and | ||
| WHEREAS, The framers wisely granted the states the power to | ||
| amend the U.S. Constitution when necessary, and few issues are more | ||
| important than the preservation of the people's sovereign interests | ||
| in robust political debate, the integrity of the electoral process, | ||
| open and representative self-government, and the political | ||
| equality of natural persons; now, therefore, be it | ||
| RESOLVED, That the 89th Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
| hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to propose and | ||
| send to the states for ratification a constitutional amendment to | ||
| clarify that the states and Congress, within their respective | ||
| jurisdictions, may reasonably regulate and limit the spending of | ||
| money to influence campaigns, elections, or ballot measures, and | ||
| that, in so doing, the states and Congress may distinguish between | ||
| natural persons and artificial entities such as corporations, | ||
| unions, and artificial intelligences; 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. | ||
