HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1991        FILED ON: 1/19/2017

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1926

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

PRESENTED BY:

Carmine L. Gentile

_________________

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act for a United States constitutional amendment and amendments convention.

_______________

PETITION OF:

 

Name:

District/Address:

Date Added:

Carmine L. Gentile

13th Middlesex

1/19/2017

James B. Eldridge

Middlesex and Worcester

2/2/2017

James Arciero

2nd Middlesex

1/26/2017

Cory Atkins

14th Middlesex

2/1/2017

Ruth B. Balser

12th Middlesex

1/30/2017

Michael J. Barrett

Third Middlesex

 

Jennifer E. Benson

37th Middlesex

1/23/2017

Antonio F. D. Cabral

13th Bristol

1/20/2017

Daniel Cahill

10th Essex

1/20/2017

Thomas J. Calter

12th Plymouth

 

Linda Dean Campbell

15th Essex

 

Gailanne M. Cariddi

1st Berkshire

1/29/2017

Tackey Chan

2nd Norfolk

1/30/2017

Mike Connolly

26th Middlesex

 

Edward F. Coppinger

10th Suffolk

1/30/2017

Brendan P. Crighton

Third Essex

1/25/2017

William L. Crocker, Jr.

2nd Barnstable

 

Marjorie C. Decker

25th Middlesex

2/2/2017

Diana DiZoglio

14th Essex

 

Paul J. Donato

35th Middlesex

1/30/2017

William Driscoll

7th Norfolk

 

Michelle M. DuBois

10th Plymouth

1/31/2017

James J. Dwyer

30th Middlesex

1/26/2017

Carolyn C. Dykema

8th Middlesex

2/2/2017

Dylan Fernandes

Barnstable, Dukes and Nantucket

 

Sean Garballey

23rd Middlesex

1/24/2017

Stephan Hay

3rd Worcester

 

Jonathan Hecht

29th Middlesex

2/3/2017

Paul R. Heroux

2nd Bristol

1/31/2017

Natalie Higgins

4th Worcester

 

Kate Hogan

3rd Middlesex

2/1/2017

Kevin G. Honan

17th Suffolk

2/3/2017

Louis L. Kafka

8th Norfolk

1/30/2017

Mary S. Keefe

15th Worcester

2/2/2017

Peter V. Kocot

1st Hampshire

2/1/2017

John J. Lawn, Jr.

10th Middlesex

 

Jack Lewis

7th Middlesex

 

Jason M. Lewis

Fifth Middlesex

 

Barbara A. L'Italien

Second Essex and Middlesex

 

Jay D. Livingstone

8th Suffolk

2/2/2017

Joan B.  Lovely

Second Essex

 

Adrian Madaro

1st Suffolk

2/3/2017

John J. Mahoney

13th Worcester

2/2/2017

Elizabeth A. Malia

11th Suffolk

2/3/2017

Joseph W. McGonagle, Jr.

28th Middlesex

2/1/2017

Paul McMurtry

11th Norfolk

1/31/2017

James R. Miceli

19th Middlesex

 

Rady Mom

18th Middlesex

 

Brian Murray

10th Worcester

 

Harold P. Naughton, Jr.

12th Worcester

2/2/2017

Kathleen O'Connor Ives

First Essex

 

James J. O'Day

14th Worcester

1/30/2017

Sarah K. Peake

4th Barnstable

2/1/2017

Smitty Pignatelli

4th Berkshire

1/25/2017

Denise Provost

27th Middlesex

1/25/2017

Angelo J. Puppolo, Jr.

12th Hampden

1/24/2017

David M. Rogers

24th Middlesex

1/30/2017

John H. Rogers

12th Norfolk

1/24/2017

Jeffrey N. Roy

10th Norfolk

1/19/2017

Jeffrey Sánchez

15th Suffolk

2/3/2017

Angelo M. Scaccia

14th Suffolk

 

Paul A. Schmid, III

8th Bristol

 

John W. Scibak

2nd Hampshire

1/23/2017

Frank I. Smizik

15th Norfolk

1/24/2017

Thomas M. Stanley

9th Middlesex

1/26/2017

José F. Tosado

9th Hampden

 

Paul Tucker

7th Essex

2/3/2017

Steven Ultrino

33rd Middlesex

1/23/2017

Aaron Vega

5th Hampden

1/20/2017

David T. Vieira

3rd Barnstable

 

Chris Walsh

6th Middlesex

1/19/2017

Thomas P. Walsh

12th Essex

 


HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1991        FILED ON: 1/19/2017

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1926

By Mr. Gentile of Sudbury, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 1926) of Carmine L. Gentile and others for the adoption of resolutions memorializing the Congress of the United States to convene a Constitutional Convention to consider amendments to the Constitution to limit the influence of money in our political system.  Veterans and Federal Affairs.

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

 

_______________

In the One Hundred and Ninetieth General Court
(2017-2018)

_______________

 

An Act for a United States constitutional amendment and amendments convention.

 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

WHEREAS, the 1st 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." (James Madison, Federalist 52); 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 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 our ability to choose our political leadership, write our own laws, and determine the fate of our state; and

WHEREAS, corporations are artificial entities that governments create and, as such, do not possess the same unalienable rights of natural persons protected by the Constitution; and

WHEREAS, corporations have used a claim to the rights enumerated in the US Constitution, including under the 1st, 4th, 5th and 14th Amendments, to challenge and overturn democratically enacted laws protecting the public interest; 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, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts sees the need for a convention to propose amendments in order to address concerns about the integrity of our elections and about the ability of the people to participate in effective self-government, specifically those concerns arising from the United States Supreme Court’s rulings limiting the ability of the legislature to regulate the raising and spending of money in elections and granting constitutional rights to corporations; and desires that said convention should be so limited; and

WHEREAS, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts desires that the delegates to said convention shall be comprised equally from 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 intends to retain the ability to restrict or expand the power of its delegates within the limits expressed above; and

WHEREAS, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts intends that this application shall constitute a continuing application, considered together with applications on this subject such as those passed in the 2013-2014 Vermont legislature as R454, the 2013-2014 California legislature as Resolution Chapter 77, the 98th Illinois General Assembly as SJR 42, the 2014-2015 New Jersey legislature as SCR 132, the 2015-2016 Rhode Island legislature as HR 7670 and SR 2589, and all other passed, pending, and future applications, the aforementioned concerns of Massachusetts notwithstanding until such time as two-thirds of the Several States have applied for a Convention and said Convention is convened by Congress;

Therefore, BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that it calls on Congress to propose an amendment to the Constitution that would affirm that

a)the rights protected by the Constitution of the United States are the rights of natural persons, i.e. human individuals, only and

b)Congress and the states shall place limits on political contributions and expenditures to ensure that all citizens have access to the political process, and the spending of money to influence elections is not protected free speech under the First Amendment; and

Be it further Resolved that if Congress does not propose this constitutional amendment within 6 months of the passage of this bill, then this bill constitutes a petition by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, speaking through its legislature, and pursuant to Article V of the United States Constitution, to the Congress to call a limited Convention for the exclusive purpose of proposing Amendments, as prescribed previously herein, to the Constitution of the United States of America addressing, inter alia, concerns raised by Citizens United v. FEC, McCutcheon v. FEC and related decisions, as soon as two-thirds of the several States have applied for a Convention; and,

Be it further Resolved: That this petition shall not be considered by the U.S. Congress until 33 other states submit petitions for the same purpose as proposed by Massachusetts in this resolution and unless the Congress determines that the scope of amendments to the Constitution of the United States considered by the convention shall be limited to the same purpose requested by Massachusetts, and be it further

Be it further Resolved, that the Clerk of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and Clerk of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States and addressed to him at the legislative office which he maintains in Suite No. S-212 of the United States Capitol Building, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives, the President Pro Tempore of the United States Senate, to each Senator and Representative from Massachusetts in the Congress of the United States, to the Governor of each State, and to the presiding officers of each legislative body of each of the several States, requesting the cooperation of the several States in issuing an application compelling Congress to call a convention for proposing amendments pursuant to Article V of the United States Constitution.