HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

282

TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2010

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

REQUESTING congress to take immediate action to redefine "corporate entity" to preclude the use of the term "person" in the definition.

 

 


     WHEREAS, the Supreme Court of the United States, in its ruling on Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission, upheld a longstanding, though illogical legal concept of corporations as people; and

 

     WHEREAS, corporations cannot by any reasonable definition be characterized as people, because corporations:

 

     (1)  Can reside in multiple states and countries simultaneously;

 

     (2)  Can conceivably exist for hundreds of years;

 

     (3)  Cannot be incarcerated;

 

     (4)  Cannot enter into a marriage contract or conceive a child;

 

     (5)  Cannot independently formulate political opinions separate and distinct from the board of directors, executives, shareholders, or employees;

 

(6)  Cannot obtain citizenship or be issued a passport;

 

(7)  Cannot enlist in the military; and

 

(8)  Cannot vote; and

 

     WHEREAS, in Buckley v. Valeo, the United States Supreme Court handed down a ruling on campaign spending that equates money to speech; and

 

     WHEREAS, in preliminary remarks by Chief Justice Morrison Waite in the United States Supreme Court case, Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, C.J. Waite indicated that, "the provision in the 14th Amendment ... applies to these corporations.  We are all of the opinion that it does."; and

 

     WHEREAS, these remarks are not included in the final ruling nor are they a formal opinion of the Court, yet these remarks have been used as the basis for establishing rights as "persons" for corporations within the framework of the United States Constitution; and

 

     WHEREAS, the combination of these two cases provides the basis for corporations to financially overwhelm the individual common person in the political process; and

 

     WHEREAS, a ruling by the United States Supreme Court cannot be simply negated; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2010, the Senate concurring, that the United States Congress is requested to take immediate action by enactment of Federal Code or constitutional amendment to redefine "corporate entity" to preclude the use of the term "person" in the definition; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to Hawaii's congressional delegation.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

 

 

Report Title: 

Congress; Definition of "Corporate Entity"