The Berkeley City Council, known for its far-out ideas, has unanimously passed a resolution calling for constitutional amendments to deny constitutional rights to corporations.

The vote on the measure by the California municipal body came yesterday, with council members and other proponents explaining that corporate money is not entitled to protections offered by the Constitution – that the Bill of Rights is for live human beings only.

The Peace and Justice Commission, reportedly inspired by a documentary called "The Corporation," asked the council to adopt the resolution to recommend amendment of the federal and state constitutions on corporations. The commission wants the federal and state governments to retract clauses that grant corporations the protections or rights of persons.

In addition, the commission wants a declaration that the expenditure of corporate money is not a form of constitutionally protected speech.

The resolution will now be sent to local, state and federal legislators – including Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland – as well as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The resolution reads, in part: "Whereas, 'corporation' is not mentioned in the United States Constitution; our founders did not grant corporations rights; rights were reserved for natural people; historically corporations were created as artificial entities, chartered by state governments to serve the public interest, cause no harm, and be subordinate to the sovereign people; and yet by judicial interpretations, corporations gained personhood status, free speech and other protections guaranteed by the Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment; and

"Whereas, with "corporate personhood" and First Amendment rights, corporations dominate the political process and interfere with citizens' control over our government as follows: corporations lobby our legislative and regulatory bodies; with the Supreme Court's assertion that money is a form of free speech, corporations spend vast amounts of money to influence elections; and by virtue of their enormous wealth, corporations wield much more influence over our government and over the media than do 'We the People'; and

"Whereas, this corporate influence is transforming our government from one that is 'by and for the people' to one that is by and for corporate interests; corporate influence over our government denies citizens our right to govern through a representative democracy and subjects us to minority rule by the wealthy few; and corporate influence has made it difficult to maintain a living wage, a clean environment, affordable health care, and quality education for all; and

"Whereas, the citizens of the City of Berkeley consider it to be our sovereign right and civic duty to recognize that corporations remain artificial entities created by the people through our state legislatures; hope to nurture and expand democracy in Berkeley and in our nation; and reject the concept of corporate constitutional rights based on "corporate personhood" or any other factor.

"Now therefore, be it resolved that the Council of the City of Berkeley supports amending the United States and California Constitutions to declare that corporations are not granted the protections or rights of persons, and supports amending the United States and California Constitutions to declare that the expenditure of corporate money is not a form of constitutionally protected speech.”

While the resolution has no binding impact on policy in Berkeley or elsewhere, activists hope a grass-roots movement can be launched nationwide to deny corporations the rights afforded individuals in the U.S.

Corporations were first declared to be "individuals" covered by the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment in Santa Clara v. Southern Pacific Railroad. Since then they have been accorded individual rights under the First, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments.