House Rejects Amendment to Overturn Citizens United

CONCORD, NH - On Jan. 7, 2015, after initially voting in favor of the measure, the New Hampshire House ultimately voted against SB 136, a bill in support of a constitutional amendment to overturn decisions like Citizens United and allow lawmakers to set reasonable limits on money in elections. Early last year, the bill was passed unanimously in the state Senate, according to supporters.

“Today our elected officials failed to represent the 72 percent of Granite Staters who oppose the Citizens United decision,” said Lindsay Jakows, New Hampshire Campaign Organizer with People For the American Way (PFAW). “Instead, opponents of the measure used extraordinary procedural tactics to kill the bill after it had already passed. This was a miscarriage of democracy.”

People For the American Way has been working with ally groups to organize residents to speak out in favor of SB 136, including by encouraging New Hampshire PFAW activists to call their representatives and urge them to support the bill. Support for overturning decisions like Citizens United is strong both in New Hampshire and across the country.

Local activism has pushed 69 towns in New Hampshire to pass resolutions in support of an amendment, more than a dozen of which passed in 2015 alone. Sixteen other states have already officially called for an amendment. A national Bloomberg Politics poll released in September found that 78 percent of Americans believe the Citizens United decision should be overturned.

Make no mistake,” Jakows noted in a press statement. “Granite Staters are paying attention, and care deeply about this issue. On Election Day, voters will remember which representatives stood on the side of reform and which stood on the side of wealthy special interests.”