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Berkeley Resolution
Approved for presentation to the City Council by Berkeley,
California, Peace & Justice Commission on May 3, 2004
Berkeley, CA, June 17, 2004 -- On June 15 the Berkeley City Council
became the latest and largest city to pass a resolution regarding
corporate constitutional protections. The council unanimously
supported amendments to the California state and U.S. Constitutions
declaring that corporations are not granted the protections or
rights of natural persons and that expenditure of corporate money
is not constitutionally protected free speech. The resolution
asserts that corporations dominate the political process and deny
citizens their right to govern through democracy.
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Resolution on Corporate
Constitutional Rights
WHEREAS, Chapter 3.68 of the Berkeley Municipal Code, which contains
the initiative ordinance creating the Peace and Justice Commission,
sets forth several functions of the Peace and Justice Commission,
including, but not limited to, "(A) Advise the Berkeley City
Council on all matters relating to the City of Berkeley's role
in issues of peace and social justice, including, but not limited
to support for human rights and self-determination throughout
the world; (B) Help create citizen awareness around issues of
social justice [and] (C) Help develop proposals for the City Council
in furtherance of the goals of peace and justice, and help publicize
such actions in the community;" and
WHEREAS, under the United States and California Constitutions,
all sovereignty resides with "We the People," such that
people hold all inherent political power and government derives
its power from the consent of the governed; government is created
by the people and for the people for our health, safety, and welfare;
our system of government is a representative democracy, through
which the people govern; and "We the People" are entitled
to inalienable constitutional rights to wield against oppressive
governmental regulation; and
WHEREAS, "corporation" is not mentioned in the United
States Constitution; our founders did not grant corporations rights;
rights were reserved for natural people; historically corporations
were created as artificial entities, chartered by state governments
to serve the public interest, cause no harm, and be subordinate
to the sovereign people; and yet by judicial interpretations,
corporations gained personhood status, free speech and other protections
guaranteed by the Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment; and
WHEREAS, with "corporate personhood" and First Amendment
rights, corporations dominate the political process and interfere
with citizens' control over our government as follows: corporations
lobby our legislative and regulatory bodies; with the Supreme
Court's assertion that money is a form of free speech, corporations
spend vast amounts of money to influence elections; and by virtue
of their enormous wealth, corporations wield much more influence
over our government and over the media than do "We the People";
and
WHEREAS, this corporate influence is transforming our government
from one that is "by and for the people" to one that
is by and for corporate interests; corporate influence over our
government denies citizens our right to govern through a representative
democracy and subjects us to minority rule by the wealthy few;
and corporate influence has made it difficult to maintain a living
wage, a clean environment, affordable health care, and quality
education for all; and
WHEREAS, the citizens of the City of Berkeley consider it to be
our sovereign right and civic duty to recognize that corporations
remain artificial entities created by the people through our state
legislatures; hope to nurture and expand democracy in Berkeley
and in our nation; and reject the concept of corporate constitutional
rights based on "corporate personhood" or any other
factor.
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Council of the City of
Berkeley supports amending the United States and California Constitutions
to declare that corporations are not granted the protections or
rights of persons, and supports amending the United States and
California Constitutions to declare that the expenditure of corporate
money is not a form of constitutionally protected speech.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the City Council directs the City
Manager to send a copy of this Resolution to our state and federal
government representatives including: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger,
Majority and Minority Leaders of the California Senate Don Perata
and James Brulte, California Assemblymember Loni Hancock, United
States Senators Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein, and United
States Representative Barbara Lee.