MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2012 Regular Session
To: Rules
By: Representatives Evans (70th), Bailey, Banks, Broomfield, Brown (66th), Buck (5th), Burnett, Calhoun, Clark, Evans (91st), Gibbs, Hines, Huddleston (30th), Lane, Straughter, Wooten
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES TO CALL A CONVENTION FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE OF PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES TO ABOLISH THE CONCEPT OF CORPORATE PERSONHOOD AND URGING THE LEGISLATIVE BODIES OF THE SEVERAL STATES TO APPLY TO THE CONGRESS TO CALL SUCH A CONVENTION.
WHEREAS, government of, by and for the people has long been a fundamental American value, and the fundamental and inalienable right to self-govern, and thereby secure rights to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness is guaranteed in the United States Constitution and the Declaration of Independence; and
WHEREAS, free and fair elections are essential to democracy and effective self-governance; and
WHEREAS, persons are rightfully recognized as human beings whose essential needs include clean air, clean water, safe and secure food; and
WHEREAS, corporations are entirely human-made legal fictions that are created and exist only by the express permission of the people and our government; and
WHEREAS, corporations can exist in perpetuity, can exist simultaneously in many nations at once, need only profit for survival, and exist solely through the legal charter imposed by the government of the people; and
WHEREAS, in addition to these advantages, the great wealth of large corporations allows them to wield coercive force of law to overpower human beings and communities, thus denying the people's exercise of constitutional rights; and
WHEREAS, corporations are not mentioned in the United States Constitution and the people have never granted constitutional rights to corporations, and have not granted corporations authority that exceeds the authority of the people of the United States; and
WHEREAS, interpretations of the United States Constitution by appointed Supreme Court justices to include corporations in the terms "persons" have denied the people's exercise of self-governance by endowing corporations with constitutional protections intended for the people; and
WHEREAS, the judicial assignment of civil and political rights to corporations usurps basic human and constitutional rights guaranteed to only human persons and also empowers corporations to sue municipal and state governments for adopting laws that violate "corporate rights," even when those laws serve to protect and defend the rights of human persons and communities; and
WHEREAS, corporations are not and have never been human beings, and therefore are rightfully subservient to human beings and governments as our legal creations; and
WHEREAS, large corporations' profits and survival are often in direct conflict with the essential needs and rights of human beings; and
WHEREAS, the recent United States Supreme Court decision in the care of Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission, which rolled back the legal limits on corporate spending in the electoral process, creates an unequal playing field and allows unlimited corporate spending to influence elections, candidate selection, policy decisions and sway votes, and forces elected officials to divert their attention from the people's business or even vote against the interest of their human constituents, in order to raise competitive campaign funds for their reelection; and
WHEREAS, tens of thousands of people and municipalities across the nation are joining together to call for an amendment to the United States Constitution to abolish the concept of corporate personhood; and
WHEREAS, the United States Constitution provides that, on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds (2/3) of the several states, the Congress shall call a convention for the purpose of proposing an amendment or amendments to the United States Constitution, which amendment or amendments when so proposed by such a convention must be ratified by the legislatures of, or conventions in, three-fourths (3/4) of the states to become valid: NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE SENATE CONCURRING THEREIN, That the Congress of the United States is hereby requested to call a convention pursuant to Article V of the United States Constitution for the sole purpose of proposing an amendment to the United States Constitution that would abolish the concept of corporate personhood.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Legislature of the State of Mississippi does hereby urge and request the legislative bodies of the several states to apply to the Congress of the United States to call a convention for the sole purpose of proposing this amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution shall be transmitted to the President of the United States Senate and to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives; to each member of the delegation of the State of Mississippi in the Congress of the United States; and to the presiding officers of each house of the legislative bodies of the several states of the Union.