California Assembly Officially Goes On Record Opposing Citizens United
Media Contacts
Assembly votes 48-22 to officially oppose the Supreme Court’s Citizens United Decision
CALPIRG
Sacramento, CA—The Assembly passed AJR 22, a resolution that puts California on record calling for a constitutional amendment overturning the 2010 Supreme Court decision that allows unlimited corporate spending in elections.
The rise of Super PACs and the fact that we are already measuring spending half way through a primary election in hundreds of millions of dollars is evidence that the Citizens United decision made the problem of money in politics exponentially worse. Money is drowning out the voices of citizens who don’t have millions of dollars to spend on their candidate of choice.
Gaining sufficient consensus in congress to amend the US constitution is a daunting prospect even at the most cooperative of times. Getting California on record calling for congress to amend the constitution will be a huge step toward encouraging other states to join the effort, and ultimately toward convincing congress that there is widespread support for ending unlimited corporate spending in politics.
AJR 22 cleared the Assembly today and is headed next to the Senate.
Here is a link to our most recent report, Loopholes For Sale, about how big companies are using their money to manipulate the system. This report is an analysis of large US companies that take advantage of tax loopholes to pay less than they owe in taxes.
280 profitable Fortune 500 companies collectively received $223 billion in tax breaks between 2008 and 2010 while contributing $216 million to Congressional candidates over the last four election cycles.
