Tuesday, December 8th, 2015
Contact Gabe Meyer Campaign Director, WAmend
gabemeyer@wamend.org or Steve Zemke
Field Director, WAmend
stevezemke@wamend.org
SEATTLE — WAmend, the sponsor of Initiative 735, announced today that supporters have now collected over 254,000 signatures to get on the 2016 ballot in Washington State. A minimum of 246,273 signatures are required by December 31st to file with the Secretary of State. WAmend is aiming to submit 320,000 signatures to cover duplicate and invalid signatures and assure success in qualifying.
Initiative 735 urges Congress to pass an amendment to the United States Constitution to overturn the 2010 Citizens United decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. It would declare that corporations are not people and money is not free speech under the Constitution, but that states have the right to regulate money in elections and the public has the right to know who is spending the money.
Initiative 735 is an initiative to the Washington State Legislature. If the Legislature does not enact the initiative, it would go onto the November 2016 ballot. Sixteen states so far have enacted similar legislation. In Colorado and Montana when it was on the ballot, voters passed the measures with greater than 74% of voters saying yes.
Over 200 elected officials, unions, local and national political groups, candidates, and party organizations have endorsed I-735. The organizations so far that have endorsed I-735 include the Washington Education Association, Washington State Democratic Party, Faith Action Network, Washington State Labor Council, Washington Conservation Voters, WashPIRG, and FUSE Washington.
Initiative 735 is also endorsed by US Representatives Adam Smith, Derek Kilmer and Jim McDermott, King County Executive Dow Constantine, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, thirteen state seators and twenty-eight members of the House of Representatives, and numerous city and county officials from around the state.
WAmend volunteers have collected 235,021 signatures, equaling 93% of the total collected. An additional 18,379 have been collected by Fix Democracy First for I-735.
Both Houses of Congress would need to adopt an amendment by at least a two-thirds vote. Then it would need to be adopted by three-fourths of the states. To date, twenty-seven amendments have been added to the U.S. Constitution. Arkansas and California will vote on initiatives similar to I-735 next year.
For more information, visit:
About WAmend
WAmend is a coalition of grassroots organizations and individuals who believe that unlimited and anonymous money has corrupted our political system. The mission of WAmend is to put the State of Washington on record as calling for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that will empower the people to pass laws that limit and control money in politics.
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Get big money out of elections! Put Washington State on record demanding an amendment to overturn Citizens United and return democracy to the people. Money is NOT speech. Corporations are NOT people.…
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Added on 12/07/15
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