Urging 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.

The text as introduced · 438 words

90R3299 KRT-D

By: Paxton
S.C.R. No. 2

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

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 Texas Constitution likewise embraces popular

sovereignty and representative self-government, recognizing that

"all political power is inherent in the people, and all free

governments are founded on their authority, and instituted for

their benefit"; and

WHEREAS, The integrity of popular sovereignty and

representative self-government are threatened when a broken system

of election spending allows outside influences, foreign actors, and

artificial entities to spend unlimited sums of money to influence

campaigns and elections; and

WHEREAS, Over the past five decades, the Supreme Court of the

United States has stripped power from the states and Congress in its

decisions regarding election spending; its modern approach is a

departure from the original meaning of the Constitution, and the

cumulative effect has been to drown out the free speech interests of

constituents, narrow debate, weaken federalism and state

self-governance, and increase the risk of systemic corruption; and

WHEREAS, The preservation of human liberty through

self-governance depends on protecting the free speech interests of

individual citizens and maintaining the integrity of our elections

and our government in the face of outside and rapidly advancing

technological 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 American people's sovereign

interests in robust political debate, the integrity of the

electoral process, and representative self-government; now,

therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the 90th 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.