Florida Senate - 2020                                    SM 1816
       
       
        
       By Senator Powell
       
       
       
       
       
       30-01730-20                                           20201816__
    1                           Senate Memorial                         
    2         A memorial to the Congress of the United States,
    3         urging Congress to call a convention under Article V
    4         of the Constitution of the United States for the
    5         exclusive purpose of proposing an amendment to the
    6         Constitution of the United States to permanently
    7         restore free and fair elections in the United States.
    8  
    9         WHEREAS, the framers of the Constitution of the United
   10  States intended that the United States Congress should be
   11  “dependent on the people alone” (James Madison, Federalist No.
   12  52), and
   13         WHEREAS, that dependency has evolved from a dependency on
   14  the people alone to a dependency on powerful special interests,
   15  through campaigns or third-party groups, which has created a
   16  fundamental imbalance in our representative democracy, and
   17         WHEREAS, Americans across the political spectrum agree that
   18  elections in the United States should be free from the
   19  disproportional influence of special interests and fair enough
   20  that any citizen can be elected to office, and
   21         WHEREAS, Article I, Section 1 of the State Constitution
   22  states that “all political power is inherent in the people,” and
   23         WHEREAS, Article V of the Constitution of the United States
   24  requires Congress to call a convention for proposing amendments
   25  to the Constitution of the United States on the application of
   26  two-thirds of the legislatures of the several states, and
   27         WHEREAS, multiple Florida counties and municipalities have
   28  expressed by citizen referendum or through their elected
   29  officials the need to free our elections from the
   30  disproportional influence of special interests, including, but
   31  not limited to, Escambia, Gadsden, and Alachua Counties and the
   32  cities of Key West, Sarasota, Tampa, and Miami, and
   33         WHEREAS, the Florida Legislature perceives the need for an
   34  Article V convention in order to restore balance and integrity
   35  to our elections by proposing an amendment to the Constitution
   36  of the United States which will permanently restore free and
   37  fair elections in the United States by addressing, among other
   38  things, issues raised by the decisions of the United States
   39  Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission,
   40  558 U.S. 310 (2010), and related cases and events, and desires
   41  that such convention should be so limited, and
   42         WHEREAS, the State of Florida desires that the delegates to
   43  such convention shall be composed equally of individuals
   44  currently elected to state and local office, or be selected by
   45  election, in each congressional district for the purpose of
   46  serving as delegates, though all individuals elected or
   47  appointed to federal office, past or present, shall be
   48  prohibited from serving as delegates to the convention, and the
   49  state intends to retain the ability to restrict or expand the
   50  power of its delegates within the limits expressed herein, and
   51         WHEREAS, the State of Florida intends that this be a
   52  continuing application considered together with applications
   53  calling for a convention passed in the 2013-2014 Vermont
   54  legislature as R454, the 2013-2014 California legislature as
   55  Resolution Chapter 77, the 98th Illinois General Assembly as SJR
   56  42, the 2014-2015 New Jersey legislature as SCR 132, the 2015
   57  2016 Rhode Island legislature as HR 7670 and SR 2589, and all
   58  other passed, pending, and future applications until such time
   59  as two-thirds of the several states have applied for a
   60  convention for a similar purpose and such convention is convened
   61  by Congress, NOW, THEREFORE,
   62  
   63  Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   64  
   65         (1) That the Legislature of the State of Florida does
   66  hereby make application to Congress, pursuant to Article V of
   67  the Constitution of the United States, to call an Article V
   68  Convention for the exclusive purpose of proposing an amendment
   69  to the Constitution of the United States which will restore free
   70  and fair elections by addressing the issues raised by the
   71  decisions of the United States Supreme Court in Citizens United
   72  v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 310 (2010), and related
   73  cases and events.
   74         (2) That this application constitutes a continuing
   75  application in accordance with Article V of the Constitution of
   76  the United States until the legislatures of at least two-thirds
   77  of the several states have made application on the subject of
   78  free and fair elections as specified in this application.
   79         (3) That this application be aggregated with the
   80  applications from other states on the same subject for the
   81  purpose of attaining the two-thirds majority needed to require
   82  Congress to call a limited Article V convention as specified in
   83  this application, but not be aggregated with any other
   84  applications on any other subject.
   85         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State dispatch
   86  copies of this memorial to the President of the United States,
   87  the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the
   88  United States House of Representatives, and each member of the
   89  Florida delegation to the United States Congress.