Support the We the People Amendment & the Montana Plan

UPDATE (7/12/26): The Montana Plan will be on the Montana November 3, 2026 general election ballot thanks to the Transparent Election Initiative (TEI) gathering nearly 50,000 signatures—blowing past the state's 30,121 threshold. The Montana Plan's corporate charter limits have also been formally introduced in at least 14 other state legislatures, and Hawaii has already passed similar legislation.

For this task, we will be asking you some of you to contact both your state legislators as well as your federal legislators. The reasons for this are explained below, but to make it simple, this approach bypasses federal gridlock while building momentum and making changes at the state level which can level the playing field in your state now.

The details related to this task are below, but if you are ready to take action, click here.

Amending the U.S. Constitution requires a massive political hurdle that takes years, if not decades, to achieve. The Montana Plan acts as an immediate testing ground. If passed, it provides an instant blueprint for the other 25 states with direct-democracy ballot initiatives to rapidly drain corporate money out of local, state, and federal elections without waiting for Congress. To find out if your state is one of these states, click here.

What is the We the People Amendment, what is the Montana plan, and how do these two complement each other?

The We the People Amendment and the Montana Plan are two distinct legal strategies aimed at overturning or bypassing the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United ruling to eliminate corporate dark money from American politics.

While the We the People Amendment seeks a top-down federal constitutional change to strip corporations of human rights, the Montana Plan utilizes a bottom-up state-level mechanism that redefines corporate charters to strip them of the legal capacity to spend money on elections.

Together, they complement each other by attacking the problem from opposite ends: the Montana Plan provides immediate, state-by-state relief while building the grassroots momentum required to pass the permanent federal solution offered by the We the People Amendment.

Citizens should advocate for both strategies simultaneously if their states have direct-democracy ballot initiatives because they operate on entirely different tracks and timelines, meaning victory for one does not slow down the other. In fact, grassroots advocacy groups like Move to Amend explicitly endorse state-level mechanisms like the Montana Plan while maintaining that a federal constitutional amendment is the final, necessary solution to permanently fix corporate rule.

Advocating for both creates a complementary "pincer movement": the Montana Plan acts as an immediate state-by-state shield against dark money, while the We the People Amendment builds the long-term federal sword to strip away corporate personhood permanently. Below is a simple breakdown of each along with links to learn more.

The We the People Amendment (H.J.Res. 54)

The We the People Amendment is a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution (introduced in Congress as H.J.Res. 54) pushed forward by advocacy groups like Move to Amend.

The Core Premise: It firmly states that constitutional rights belong exclusively to natural human beings, not artificial legal entities like corporations or LLCs.
The Mechanism: It explicitly declares that political money is not protected free speech under the First Amendment. This would completely roll back corporate personhood and allow federal, state, and local governments to heavily regulate, limit, or entirely ban political campaign contributions and expenditures

The Montana Plan (Initiative 194)

The Montana Plan is a pioneering legal strategy advanced by the Transparent Election Initiative (TEI) and the Center for American Progress, qualifying as Initiative 194 (I-194) on Montana’s 2026 ballot.

The Core Premise: It bypasses the need for a U.S. Supreme Court reversal or a federal amendment by targeting the root of corporate law. Corporations are entirely artificial fictions created by state governments. For over 200 years, courts have held that states have absolute authority to define what a corporation can and cannot do.
The Mechanism: Instead of restricting corporate "free speech" (which Citizens United struck down), the Montana Plan redefines corporate charter powers. It adjusts state law to declare that corporations are simply never granted the legal power or capacity to spend money or assets on elections or ballot issues. If a corporation attempts to spend money on politics, it is committing an unauthorized act (ultra vires), resulting in the forfeiture of its business license to operate in the state.

How to Take Action

Because there are two paths to take in this task, there are two scripts below to use, one you’re your state legislators and one with your federal legislators.

What to Do.

Use this Link to Find Contact Information for Your State and Federal Legislators: https://www.commoncause.org/find-your-representative/
Call or email your state legislators and use the State Legislator Correspondence script below to guide your interaction.
Call or email your federal legislators and use the Federal Legislator Correspondence script below to guide your interaction.
Call and Email More Than Once: Please consider making multiple calls or sending multiple emails to your congresspeople over the next week(s) to drive home the message that you will not stop until they take action.
Invite Others to Join You in Your Efforts:If you are passionate about this issue, please share a link to this page with friends or on your social media. Our power grows when we unite.

Tips for Effective Calling:

One Issue Per Call: Focus on one topic per call to ensure it is accurately tallied.
Keep it Brief: Staffers are logging, not debating; simply state your name, address, and your position on the issue.
Daily Calls are Okay: It is generally acceptable to call once a day about an active issue or vote.
Use Local Offices if the Washington D.C. Office is Busy: Calls to the local district office are also logged.

For State Legislators

The Montana Plan

For emails, you can write your own correspondence or you can copy and paste the script below and just fill in your personal details. For calls, you can use this script to guide your conversation.

Subject: Introducing a State-Level Solution to Corporate Dark Money / Model Charter Power Legislation

Dear Representative/Senator [Last Name],

As a constituent in your district, I am writing to ask you to introduce or co-sponsor a "Corporate Power Reset" bill, modeled after the pioneering Montana Plan (Initiative 194).

This strategy offers a robust, legally sound mechanism for our state to address the flood of corporate spending in our elections, completely independent of federal gridlock.

Rather than trying to restrict a corporation’s "free speech"—which current Supreme Court precedent protects—this approach targets the root of corporate law: state-granted charters.

Corporations are artificial entities created entirely by state governments. For over two decades, courts have affirmed that our state has the absolute authority to define and limit the scope of a corporation’s legal power.

I urge you to introduce legislation that amends our state's corporate code to declare that political campaign expenditures are entirely outside the authorized power and legal capacity of any corporation operating within our borders. As a measure of enforcement, I urge you to ensure that if a corporation spends treasury funds on our elections, it faces the immediate forfeiture of its charter or business license.

This strategy allows our state to protect its voters, secure its elections, and reclaim our sovereignty from out-of-state corporate interests.

I would appreciate knowing your stance on this issue and whether you would be willing to review model legislation on corporate charter limits.

Thank you for your time, leadership, and service to our community.

Sincerely,

[Your First & Last Name]
[Your Physical Address]
[Your Phone Number]
[Your Email Address]

For Federal Legislators

The We the People Amendment

For emails, you can write your own correspondence or you can copy and paste the script below and just fill in your personal details. For calls, you can use this script to guide your conversation.

Subject: Constituent Request: Please Co-Sponsor the We the People Amendment (H.J.Res. 54)

Dear Representative/Senator [Last Name],

As your constituent, I am writing to strongly urge you to co-sponsor and publicly support H.J.Res. 54, the We the People Amendment.

Since the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling, billions of dollars in corporate dark money have flooded our political system, drowning out the voices of everyday citizens. It is clear that ordinary legislation cannot fix this problem; we need a structural, permanent constitutional remedy to restore the integrity of our democracy.

The We the People Amendment corrects two fundamental judicial errors by explicitly stating that:

Constitutional rights belong exclusively to natural, living human beings—not artificial legal entities like corporations or LLCs.
Political money is property, not protected free speech under the First Amendment, meaning Congress and state legislatures have the full authority to regulate and limit campaign spending.

A vast, bipartisan majority of Americans agree that corporations should not buy influence in our government. By co-sponsoring H.J.Res. 54, you will signal to your constituents that you stand for a government that is truly of, by, and for the people.

Please let me know if you intend to add your name as a co-sponsor to this critical resolution during this legislative session.

Thank you for your dedicated service to [Insert State or District Name]. I look forward to your response.