Way to go Texas

[Master Blaster]

After being nearly derailed on a technicality earlier this month, Texas House Concurrent Resolution 50 (HCR50) was brought back for a vote today, and passed by a wide margin.

The resolution affirms that “the State of Texas claims sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the U.S. Constitution, serving notice to the federal government to cease and desist certain mandates, and providing that certain federal legislation be prohibited or repealed.”

The final vote was 99-36. (click here to see the tally)

Here’s the full text of the resolution:

WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States reads as follows: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people”; and

WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment defines the total scope of federal power as being that specifically granted by the Constitution of the United States and no more; and

WHEREAS, The scope of power defined by the Tenth Amendment means that the federal government was created by the states specifically to be an agent of the states; and

WHEREAS, Today, in 2009, the states are demonstrably treated as agents of the federal government; and

WHEREAS, Many federal laws are directly in violation of the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and

WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment assures that we, the people of the United States of America and each sovereign state in the Union of States, now have, and have always had, rights the federal government may not usurp; and

WHEREAS, Section 4, Article IV, of the Constitution says, “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government,” and the Ninth Amendment states that “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people”; and

WHEREAS, The United States Supreme Court has ruled in New York v. United States, 112 S. Ct. 2408 (1992), that congress may not simply commandeer the legislative and regulatory processes of the states; and

WHEREAS, A number of proposals from previous administrations and some now pending from the present administration and from congress may further violate the Constitution of the United States; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the 81st Legislature of the State of Texas hereby claim sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That this serve as notice and demand to the federal government, as our agent, to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That all compulsory federal legislation that directs states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties or sanctions or that requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding be prohibited or repealed; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of the Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.

 

[Serk]

Definitely a step in the right direction for the Republic, but unfortunately, just a non-binding resolution...

[alph]

you know, I’ve only driven through the upper part of Texas, and other then "Sandy" the squirrel on "Sponge bob Square pants" I don't know anyone from Texas, don't care for the Dallas Cowboys (Greenbays Arch Rivals). 

What their attempting makes me pretty proud for them.  Someone has to stand up against what the federal government is trying to impose against the American people, and so far, Texas is doing that!!

GREAT JOB GUYS!! STAND UP AND FIGHT THE REST OF YOU'S!!

[Serk]

And while I'm always proud to be a Texan, we're NOT alone in this, a majority of states are working on their own State Sovereignty resolutions...

http://www.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2009/02/23/state-sovereignty-resolutions/

[john]

eau claire  , WI ...   

that would be north TEXAS   

[Gear Jammer]

eau claire  , WI ...   

that would be north TEXAS   

FAAARRRRR north Texas !!   

[Lyn-Del]

you know, I’ve only driven through the upper part of Texas, and other then "Sandy" the squirrel on "Sponge bob Square pants" I don't know anyone from Texas, don't care for the Dallas Cowboys (Greenbays Arch Rivals).

That's OK, I have lived in Texas most of my life, and don't care for the Cowboys either.  I've loved the Packers since I was a little girl, and was a season ticket holder for the Oilers.  Now I have tickets for the Texans.  Dallas is our state rival, and the "Tennessee Turncoats" (formerly the Oilers, now the Titans) are our division rivals.

And I've always been proud of Texas..........

[Scanner]

Specifically, what federal mandates is the government trying to impose?   Does anyone have a specific example?

[Oss]

Well done, well done

And it isnt just a resolution. It is a shot across the bow that will reverberate across all the states just like the common sense pamphlet over two hundred years ago

 

The federal government is an 800 lb gorilla that uses the power of the pocketbook to bully all governments around from education to roads to you name it.

[Jess from VA]

Bully for Texas, and any other State that will spit in the Feds' eye. 

All powers not specifically enumerated to the Fed are reserved to the States.  Con Law 101. 

[stormrider]

Specifically, what federal mandates is the government trying to impose?   Does anyone have a specific example?

If you have the time, come by my wife's office and I'll show you the volumes of regulations that are mandated by the Federal Government. Obama just cut their budget from $15,000,000. to $150,000. state wide for juvenile services because Alabama didn't vote for him as a whole. It has happened to all the states that he didn't carry. Now take off those rose colored glasses or are you serious?

[Scanner]

So don't take the money.

[stormrider]

They mandate then dole out the money. The mandates came first. You have to comply with the mandates or face fines or imprisonment. Besides, you asked, "what mandates" as if you didn't think the Feds mandated anything. Just like they mandate emmsion standards for autos, mandate emmision standards for air polution from industry, mandate whether or not you can build a pond on your property. I thought you lived in the United States. Surely you've come across mandates at one time or another; mandates from the Federal Governmnet. You don't give up on defending a big government that has washed ashore.

[Jess from VA]

So don't take the money.

Except, each State's citizens pay a share of Fed taxation, and it is patently unfair to withhold a fair return on those receipts to the citizens of those States for a political agenda, however good the agenda may be.   Each State should get a return of federal revenue proportionate to what they pay in (as in, to the extent possible, each citizen gets a return for his bill), as opposed to porkbarreling and other swindles.    This, of course, has been true for both Parties.  

And many of these take or or leave it Fed programs require the State to ante up/match large amounts of their own limited resources to get the Fed money.  Unduly influencing the power of the State's purse and directing their policy.  

It is extortionate and undemocratic.    

[stormrider]

That is exactly why we need to end the Federal Reserve and income taxation. Just give the feds enough to provide for the common "defense" of our shores, (which could be paid for out of corporate taxes), not parlaying to the corpratocracy, or imperial elietists, leave our money alone and we would have plenty. They steal from you to give to others, go Robbing Hoods. Eisenhower warned of the Defense Corporations gaining too much power. A lot of the defense contractors in Iraq have ties to each other, and one mother company. Guess who and where are they based out of?

[GreenLantern57]

previoius mandates that I can rember. Seat belt laws. Changes in  school ciriculium or face fed funding cuts. (yes I don't know how to spell that) Raise the legal age to drink to 21. 55 mile hour speed limit or face cuts in fed funding. Set a lower blood alcohol level or face funding cuts in road repairs.  President Johnson shut down the Amarillo Air Base out of spite cause the panhandle did not vote for him.  The list is long and none more intrusive than in school ciriculum (dang it) and EPA regulations - read unfunded mandates that will take the land from your family if it feels you don't treat it right.  
IIRC some PETA and a branch of the EPA was trying to get the prairie dog regulated to endagered species.  They obviously drove down a highway and saw an empty prarie dog town and assumed they had all died. Went back to thier offices and wrote thier reports.  The people that own the land know the damn things just relocated over the hill where the food was. You can't really get rid of all of them.  Prarie dogs will graze the land down to nothing , Then relocate to where the brush/vegetation is abundant, and then start the process all over again.