You can help overcome the undue influence of special interests, Big Money, Dark Money, and corporate contributions on Minnesota elections by asking your City Council to adopt a resolution supporting a Constitutional Amendment to overturn the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United. For a model resolution, you can use the text that appears below.

Whereas corporations are not people but artificial entities bound by the laws of this country, this state, and this city; and

Whereas, the Court’s decision has the effect of permitting unlimited corporate spending to influence elections, campaigns and public policy decisions; and

Whereas, the Supreme Court’s decision, which overturned some provisions of the federal Campaign Reform Act enacted in 2002, greatly encumbers the ability of federal, state and local governments like _____________ (your municipality or county) to enact and enforce reasonable campaign finance regulations regarding corporate political activity; and

Whereas, since the Supreme Court’s decision, there has been significant growth in contributions and spending by Super PACs for media messaging and independent electioneering activities; and

Whereas, government should require that permissible contributions and expenditures be publicly disclosed; and

Whereas, several amendments to the Constitution have been introduced in Congress that would allow federal, state and local governments to regulate the raising and expending of money by corporations to influence elections and public policy decisions; and

Whereas, the people of the United States have on several occasions used the constitution amendment process to correct decisions of the United States Supreme Court that are widely deemed to be egregious or wrongly decided or significantly out of step with the prevailing values of the populace;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the __________________ (governing body of your local government):

supports passage of Senate File 1082 and House File 2139 currently before the 2017-2018 Minnesota Legislature and joins in the call for the US Congress to propose an amendment to the US Constitution to provide that :

1. Corporations are not natural persons and only natural persons are endowed with Constitutional rights.
2. Federal, State and local government shall have the power to regulate contributions and expenditures for elections and campaigns, and to require public disclosure of the sources of the contributions and expenditures.