Resolution on Corporate Constitutional Rights Passed 3-2 by Redlands Council

The Redlands city council voted 3-2 Tuesday night to adopt a resolution addressing "corporate personhood" and whether constitutional rights should be extended to them.

The resolution was based on a draft prepared by members of Occupy Redlands and recommended by the council's appointed Human Relations Commission, Keith Jackson of Occupy Redlands said.

The council voted earlier 5-0 to change language in the resolution, but they split on adopting the resolution.

Mayor Pete Aguilar,  Councilmember Bob Gardner and Councilmember John Harrison voted to adopt the resolution. Mayor Pro Tem Paul Foster and Councilmember Jerry Bean voted against.

"A growing number of cities are adopting resolutions addressing the issues around corporate personhood," a staff report prepared before Tuesday night's meeting stated. "We have reviewed a number of these resolutions, and material regarding the corporate personhood debate.

"It appears the basic points in these resolutions are that corporations should not be considered to have the same Constitutional rights as natural persons, and that corporate campaign spending should not be considered speech protected by the First Amendment," the staff report stated.

"A similar resolution has been presented by members of the community and was recommended by the Human Relations Commission in March. We reviewed multiple resolutions from municipalities and decided that this version would be best for Council consideration."

Members of Occupy Redlands asked for the resolution in response to a Supreme Court ruling on Jan. 21, 2010, in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, "that corporations are persons, entitled by the U.S. Constitution to buy elections and run our government," according to the local Occupy movement's website.

Occupy Redlands counters that "Human beings are people; corporations are legal fictions."

Local Occupy members have attended every Redlands city council meeting since Dec. 20 of last year to encourage the council to adopt the resolution they helped draft, according to Jackson.

Cities including Los Angeles, New York, and Portland, Oregon, have passed similar resolutions, according to the Occupy movement. Other California cities and municipalities that have adopted similar resolutions include Arcata, Berkeley, Fairfax, Fort Bragg, Humboldt County, Mt. Shasta, Point Arena, Santa Cruz, Santa Monica and West Hollywood, according to the Occupy movement.