As unlimited campaign spending continues to flood American elections with cash, one Utah legislator wants to give states the power to turn off the money spigot.
Sen. Kirk Cullimore is sponsoring SJR7, which urges Congress to amend the U.S. Constitution to allow states to rein in campaign spending within their borders. The move comes as the Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that campaign spending is protected speech under the First Amendment, effectively blocking most attempts to limit election spending.
To stem the tidal wave of money, Cullimore wants to allow states to set limits on campaign spending.
Getting his proposed amendment through Congress and ratified by the states would be a monumental task. The bar for changing the Constitution is intentionally high: Proposing a constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. Then, three-fourths of state legislatures (38) must vote to ratify the amendment.
History shows just how difficult this path can be. The last Amendment to be ratified was the 27th Amendment, which prevents changes to Congressional salaries from taking effect until after the next election. The amendment was initially sent to the states in 1789, but it was not ratified until 1992 – 202 years and 223 days later.
Yet rapid change is possible when there's broad consensus. In 1971, it took just three months to ratify the 26th Amendment, which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.
