A Democratic lawmaker on Thursday called for Montana to support a convention to amend the U.S. Constitution to limit corporate donations in election campaigns. Rep. Ellie Hill of Missoula introduced House Joint Resolution 3 in the State Administration Committee. Committee members did not take immediate action. “I believe the corporate buyout of our elections is the reason to do it,” she said of a Constitutional amendment that calls for free and fair elections. It takes 34 states to trigger a convention. Thirty-eight states would then have to approve a change for the amendment to be put into effect. Twenty states have similar resolution proposals in their legislatures this year, according to Ryan Clayton with Wolf PAC, a political action committee working to promote the amendment nationwide.
Hill said Montana voters called for such a change when they overwhelming passed a ballot initiative 2012 declaring corporations aren’t people and money isn’t political speech.
The measure challenged a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. The decision eased restrictions on political campaign spending by corporations.
Full Article: Federal free and fair elections amendment proposed.