There is an effort underway to give every Californian a chance to vote on a ballot question calling for a U.S. constitutional amendment to overturn the Citizens United ruling.

Although the California Legislature has already passed a resolution calling for such an amendment, now a bill being considered in the legislature would give every California voter the chance to make their voice heard on this key issue, which is central to restoring American democracy to the people.

If you’re in California, click here to ask your Assembly member to support this bill.

Below are excerpts from an Op-Ed in the San Jose Mercury News by our friend and ally Derek Cressman, of Common Cause.

Common Cause: Californians should vote to tell Congress to overturn Citizens United

Cupertino Assemblyman Paul Fong’s elections committee has until Tuesday to release legislation allowing every California voter to demand that the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. FEC be overturned with a Constitutional Amendment.

If Fong and his fellow legislators want to restore voters’ faith in government, they’ll give us a chance to vote on what has become the greatest threat to representative democracy in our time.

The measure introduced by Assemblyman Bob Weickowski [sic] (D-Fremont) follows a long tradition of “voter instructions” that have played a pivotal role in passing previous amendment and even in the original drafting of our Constitution: Many delegates to the Philadelphia Convention were under explicit directions from constituents as to what they could and could not support. Both 11th and 12th Amendments resulted from instructions from states. …

(For the full article, click here.)