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SR-05-14-2013-8BCity of City Council Report . Santa Monied City Council Meeting: May 14, 2013 Agenda Item: 0 0 To: Mayor and City Council From: Dean Kubani, Director, Office of Sustainability and the Environment Subject: Resolution to Support the Move To Amend Campaign Recommended Action Staff recommends that the City Council adopt the attached resolution to Support the Move To Amend Campaign's Call for an Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to Abolish Corporate Personhood Executive Summary On April 30, 2013 Council directed staff to prepare a resolution in support of the Move To Amend coalition's campaign to reduce the influence of corporations in the electoral process and reflect a national mobilization event on May 10, 2013. This event was meant to raise public awareness regarding the issue of corporate influence on elections and to call for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to abolish "corporate personhood." The attached resolution expresses the City of Santa.Monica's support for these goals. Background On January 21, 2010 the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that rolled back legal limits on corporate spending in the electoral process and affirmed that corporations have the rights of "persons." In the wake of this ruling a coalition called MovetoAmend.org was created with the primary goal of amending the U.S. Constitution "to firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights." Santa Monica's Task Force on the Environment unanimously adopted a motion on December 19, 2011 recommending that City Council adopt a resolution in support of a 1 campaign by MovetoAmend.org to amend the U.S. Constitution to clearly establish that corporations do not have the same rights as individuals. A draft resolution prepared by MovetoAmend.org urging Santa Monica's elected federal representatives and other communities and jurisdictions to take similar action, and supporting efforts to increase public awareness about the threats to democracy posed by "corporate personhood," was presented to Council on January 24, 2012. At that meeting Council members discussed the draft resolution but did not vote to approve it citing concern over its wording. Council asked staff to return with a revised version of the resolution that: 1. Expresses support for overturning the Citizens United decision 2. Expresses support for the idea that money is not the same as speech 3. Expresses support for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution so as to prohibit corporate contributions to political campaigns. On March 27, 2012 Council adopted a revised version of the resolution that met these requirements. On April 30 2013 Council directed staff to update the original Move To Amend resolution that was presented to Council on January 24, 2012 with a reference to an upcoming Move To Amend national mobilization event and return to Council for a vote. The updated resolution is included as Attachment 1 to this report. Discussion Move to Amend recently organized a nationwide mobilization event on May 10, 2013. The mobilization was planned to highlight the 127th anniversary of a May 10, 1886 U.S. Supreme Court decision on Santa Clara v. Southern Pacific Railroad which Move To Amend believes first established corporate rights in the U.S. Constitution. The purpose of the mobilization event was to raise public awareness regarding the issue of corporate influence on elections and to call for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to abolish 4 "corporate personhood." The attached resolution expresses the City of Santa Monica's support for these goals. Financial Impacts & Budget Actions There are no financial impacts or budget actions associated with the adoption of this resolution. Prepared by: Dean Kubani, Director, Office of Sustainability and the Environment Approved: day �. Dean Kubani Director, Office of Sustainability and the Environment Attachments: Forwarded to Council: Rod Gould City Manager 1. Resolution to Support the Move To Amend Campaign's Call for an Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to Abolish Corporate Personhood 2. A Resolution of the City Council of The City Of Santa Monica to Safeguard Free and Fair Elections and Our Democratic Process, March 277, 2012 K, City Council Meeting: March 27, 2012 Santa Monica, California RESOLUTION NUMBER 10669 (CGS) (City Council Series) A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA TO SAFEGUARD FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS AND OUR DEMOCRATIC PROCESS WHEREAS, our democracy, rests on the fundamental principle that our government is by, for and of the people; and WHEREAS, the people's right.to self- governance is secured through the United States Constitution and through the democratic electoral process, which enables the people to exert control over the government they have created; and WHEREAS, although the law safeguards the people's right to vote for the candidates of their choice, the law does not sufficiently ensure the fairness of the campaign process whereby the people determine how to cast their votes; and WHEREAS, in the last fifty years, there have been mounting concerns about the influence of money upon the electoral process; and WHEREAS, these concerns include that the candidate who raises the most money will be best situated to influence upon voters and therefore be elected independent of his or her ability to govern and that a. candidate funded mainly by private interests will take office beholden to them and may consequently use his or her office to promote those private interests rather than the public welfare; and WHEREAS, corporate, funding in the election process has impacted environmental protections and has the potential.to impact our local environment; and WHEREAS, over the last fifty years, such concerns about the impact of money on elections and government have yielded many legislative attempts to regulate campaign contributions and expenditures; and WHEREAS, the courts have invalidated many of these laws restricting campaign contributions and expenditures based upon their conclusion that the First Amendment protects financial participation in the electoral process as an expressive activity; and WHEREAS, because campaign contributions and expenditures are protected by the First Amendment, the courts, have determined that they may only be restricted if the government can demonstrate a legally sufficient governmental interest, such as averting governmental corruption; and the United States Supreme Court has determined that, though this interest can be demonstrated in the case of contributions made directly to candidates, it cannot be demonstrated in the case of contributions to or expenditures by independent committees, which are not controlled by a candidate; and WHEREAS, in Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court majority concluded that federal limits on campaign contributions and expenditures violated the First Amendment rights of a union and a political action committee . 2 (incorporated as a nonprofit corporation) because those organizations functioned independently of any candidate; and WHEREAS, the holding that the First Amendment precludes limiting independent contributions by entities such as political action committees, labor unions, and corporations has sparked a nation -wide movement to curtail the impact of corporate spending on elections by amending the United States Constitution to reverse the Citizens United decision; and WHEREAS, this movement, known as Move to Amend, urges that "corporations are not people" and "money is not speech'; and WHEREAS, at its meeting of January 24, 2012, the Council was asked to adopt a resolution supporting Move to Amend's call for an amendment to the United States Constitution to "abolish corporate personhood" and thereby reclaim the right to self governance; and WHEREAS, the City Council heard testimony, discussed the text of the proposed resolution, and, ultimately concluded that, though it supported the basic tenets of Move to Amend, the resolution should be revised to better reflect this community's understanding of these issues. NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA DOES RESOLVE AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The City of Santa Monica supports the efforts to ensure the fairness of our electoral process by reducing the influence of money upon elections, 3 including.placing limits upon corporate donations to political campaigns and by rejecting the notion that corporations must be treated the same as natural persons with regard to corporate participation in political campaigns. SECTION 2. The City of Santa Monica calls upon its elected federal representatives to safeguard the people's right of self - governance through legislation, including but not limited to a constitutional amendment, that protects the democratic process and our individual rights against the threats posed by the decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, SECTION 3. The- City of Santa Monica supports education to increase and enhance public discourse about the risks to. our democracy arising from unfettered campaign spending by private and special interest entities that are neither natural persons nor voters and therefore should not exert control over our government of, by and for the people. SECTION 4. The City calls on other communities to join us in this action passing their own similar resolutions. SECTION 5. The City Clerk shall certify to the adoption of this Resolution, and thenceforth and thereafter the same shall be in full force and effect. APPROVED AS TO FORM: M SHA, N S M UTRIE Ci y Atto n y 12 Adopted and approved this 27th day of March, 2012. Rich d Bloom, Mayor I, Maria M. Stewart, City Clerk of the City of Santa Monica, do hereby certify that the foregoing Resolution No. 10669 (CCS) was duly adopted at a meeting of the Santa Monica City Council held on the 27th day of March, 2012, by the following vote: AYES: Councilmembers McKeown, O'Day, Holbrook, Shriver, Mayor Pro Tom Davis, Mayor Bloom NOES: None ABSENT: Councilmember O'Connor ra>rr.-619 � 4 l D 12-- Maria M. Stewart, Cit Clerk Reference Resolution No. 10745 (CCS)