FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
from the California Clean Money Campaign
Contact: Trent Lange
SACRAMENTO - On the last day of the legislative session
before the 4th of July, in an important achievement for the
national movement to overturn the Supreme Court's
Citizens United and McCutcheon decisions,
the California State Senate passed SB 1272, the
Overturn Citizens United Act. SB 1272 would allow
Californians to vote in November 2014 to demand a U.S.
Constitutional amendment that says corporations aren't people, and money isn't speech. The Senate voted to concur
with amendments in the Assembly on a vote of 24-11. On
Monday, it passed the Assembly on a vote of 52-23.
"The message to Congress is this: We should not equate
money with free speech and corporations are not
people," said Senator Ted Lieu (D-Torrance), the
author of SB 1272, concerning the cases Citizens
United and McCutcheon. "Public support
shows most residents believe it's outrageous that
out-of-state interests can spend millions on efforts to
influence Golden State policies."
SB 1272 is part of a growing nationwide movement to nullify
the two Supreme Court decisions that reversed more than a
hundred years of campaign finance laws, and allowed
corporations and unions to spend unlimited amounts on
campaigns. Citizens United is deeply unpopular
with voters, with polls showing 80 percent of voters
opposed. 16 states have already called on Congress to
overturn the decision, as have roughly 500 municipalities
from Los Angeles to Liberty, Maine.
"If our democratic system of representative government
is to survive, these deeply damaging rulings must be
overturned," said Trent Lange, President of the
California Clean Money Campaign. "Billionaires should
not have thousands of times more free speech than the
average American just because they have so much more money
to spend on elections."
More than 50,000 people signed petitions -- including those
hosted and shared on CREDO
Mobilize, Democracy for America, MoveOn.org
Petitions, Causes.com, and
the California Clean
Money Campaign website. Tens of thousands signed,
emailed, tweeted, shared on Facebook and Twitter, and
faxed. Thousands applied even more pressure by calling
their legislators.
"The California legislature has responded to the people
of California," said Michele Sutter, co-founder of
Money Out Voters In, the sponsor of SB 1272. "We hope
the Governor is listening and will allow us to voice our
outrage over a growing list of perverse SCOTUS decisions at
the ballot box in November. Our message to Governor Brown
is 'sign SB 1272.'"
SB 1272 is authored by Senator Ted Lieu and sponsored by
Money Out Voters In. The Act is supported by California
groups such as the California Clean Money Campaign,
California Common Cause, the California School Employees
Association, and CALPIRG. National groups also weighed in,
with organizations including Courage Campaign, CREDO,
Causes.com, Democracy for America, MoveOn, Public Citizen,
Represent.Us, and 99Rise getting involved.
"Californians deserve the opportunity to tell Congress
to pass a constitutional amendment overturning Citizens
United and saying that money isn't speech," said
Lange. "The California Senate and Assembly are to be
congratulated for voting to provide that option on this
November's ballot, thanks to Senator Lieu's leadership.
Hopefully Governor Brown will act quickly to sign SB 1272
and give California voters the chance to speak this
November."
For more information, here's a link to Senator Lieu's press release on the
Senate victory.
Related Documents: Sen. Lieu's Fact Sheet on
SB 1272
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The California Clean Money Campaign is a non-partisan
501(c)(3) organization that has been dedicated to educating
the public about the need to lessen the unfair influence of
Big Money on election campaigns since 2001. For further
information, visit www.CAclean.org
SB 1272 would give California voters the opportunity to tell Congress to pass a constitutional amendment overturning Citizens United
