# What This Bill Actually Does

This bill proposes a constitutional amendment that would fundamentally change how the law treats corporations and other businesses. Right now, courts have ruled that corporations have many of the same constitutional rights as individual people—including free speech protections. This amendment would reverse that by saying that only actual human beings get constitutional rights, not companies or organizations.

The amendment would specifically strip corporations, limited liability companies, and other artificial business entities of constitutional protections. This means Congress, states, and local governments could pass laws regulating or limiting what these entities do without worrying about violating their constitutional rights. For example, a state could ban corporate political donations or restrict corporate spending on advertising without a corporation being able to claim that violates their constitutional rights.

The second part of the amendment tackles campaign finance directly. It would allow the government to regulate, limit, or even prohibit money spent on elections—including a candidate's own money. The goal is to make sure that wealthy people and corporations can't use their money to gain outsized influence over elections. It also requires that campaign contributions and spending be publicly disclosed so voters know who's funding what. Importantly, this part says that spending money on elections is not protected speech under the First Amendment, which would overturn current court rulings that treat campaign spending as a form of free speech.

The amendment preserves freedom of the press, so news organizations would still have constitutional protections. However, this is a constitutional amendment, which means it would need to pass both the House and Senate with two-thirds majorities, then be ratified by three-fourths of the states—a very high bar that makes passage extremely difficult.

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States providing that the rights protected and extended by the Constitution are the rights of natural persons only.

Rep. Jayapal, Pramila [D-WA-7]

This joint resolution proposes a constitutional amendment providing that the rights protected and extended by the Constitution are the rights of natural persons only. Artificial entities, such as corporations, shall have no rights under the Constitution and are subject to regulation. The amendment requires federal, state, and local governments to (1) regulate, limit, or prohibit election contributions and expenditures, including a candidate's own contributions and expenditures, to ensure equal access of citizens to the political process, regardless of economic status; and (2) require that any permissible contributions and expenditures be publicly disclosed. Additionally, the judiciary is prohibited from construing the spending of money to influence elections to be speech under the First Amendment.