Texas 2009 - 81st Regular

Texas House Bill HCR50 Compare Versions

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1	1	By: Creighton, Hughes, Berman, Gattis, H.C.R. No. 50
2	2	Guillen, et al.
3	3
4	4
5	5	HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
6	6	WHEREAS, Each Member of the Legislature feels great pride in
7	7	being a citizen of the United States of America, which includes the
8	8	right of citizens to petition their government for redress of
9	9	grievances; and
10	10	WHEREAS, All Texans have benefited from this state's
11	11	participation in the unique experience in democracy that first
12	12	began on a field in Lexington, Massachusetts, and called the United
13	13	States of America; and
14	14	WHEREAS, Countless Texans have served in the Armed Forces of
15	15	the United States with the brave sons and daughters of all our
16	16	sister states to protect our state, our nation, and our union, and
17	17	many of them gave the last full measure of devotion by offering
18	18	their lives to preserve that union; and
19	19	WHEREAS, Each member of the legislature has sworn a solemn
20	20	oath to defend our national union; and
21	21	WHEREAS, Each day, millions of Texans assemble in churches,
22	22	synagogues, schools, arenas, fields, and homes to pledge allegiance
23	23	to the flag of the United States of America and the one nation,
24	24	indivisible, for which that flag stands; and
25	25	WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the
26	26	United States reads as follows: "The powers not delegated to the
27	27	United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the
28	28	States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people";
29	29	and
30	30	WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment defines the total scope of
31	31	federal power as being that specifically granted by the
32	32	Constitution of the United States and no more; and
33	33	WHEREAS, The scope of power defined by the Tenth Amendment
34	34	means that the federal government was created by the states
35	35	specifically to be an agent of the states; and
36	36	WHEREAS, Today, in 2009, the states are demonstrably treated
37	37	as agents of the federal government; and
38	38	WHEREAS, Many federal laws are directly in violation of the
39	39	Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and
40	40	WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment assures that we, the people of
41	41	the United States of America and each sovereign state in the Union
42	42	of States, now have, and have always had, rights the federal
43	43	government may not usurp; and
44	44	WHEREAS, Section 4, Article IV, of the Constitution says,
45	45	"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a
46	46	Republican Form of Government," and the Ninth Amendment states that
47	47	"The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not
48	48	be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people";
49	49	and
50	50	WHEREAS, The United States Supreme Court has ruled in New
51	51	York v. United States, 112 S. Ct. 2408 (1992), that the Congress of
52	52	the United States may not simply commandeer the legislative and
53	53	regulatory processes of the states; and
54	54	WHEREAS, A number of proposals from previous administrations
55	55	and some now pending from the present administration and from
56	56	congress may further violate the Constitution of the United States;
57	57	now, therefore, be it
58	58	RESOLVED by the house of representatives, the senate
59	59	concurring, That the 81st Legislature of the State of Texas
60	60	reaffirms the pride of all Texans in both our one and indivisible
61	61	national union and in our one and indivisible state and the common
62	62	heritage of both; and, be it further
63	63	RESOLVED, That the 81st Legislature of the State of Texas
64	64	hereby claim sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the
65	65	Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise
66	66	enumerated and granted to the federal government by the
67	67	Constitution of the United States; and, be it further
68	68	RESOLVED, That this serve as notice and demand to the federal
69	69	government, as our agent, to cease and desist, effective
70	70	immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these
71	71	constitutionally delegated powers; and, be it further
72	72	RESOLVED, That all compulsory federal legislation not
73	73	necessary to ensure rights guaranteed the people under the
74	74	Constitution of the United States that directs states to comply
75	75	under threat of civil or criminal penalties or sanctions or that
76	76	requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding be
77	77	prohibited or repealed; and, be it further
78	78	RESOLVED, That the chief clerk of the House of
79	79	Representatives is directed to send a copy of this resolution to the
80	80	senators and representatives of Texas in Congress with the request
81	81	that this resolution be officially entered in the Congressional
82	82	Record as a memorial to the Congress of the United States of
83	83	America; and, be it further
84	84	RESOLVED, That the chief clerk of the House of
85	85	Representatives is directed to send a copy of this resolution to the
86	86	President of the United States of America, the Vice President of the
87	87	United States of America, the Speaker of the House of
88	88	Representatives of the United States of America, the minority
89	89	leader of the House of Representatives, and the minority leader of
90	90	the Senate, and to the governor of each sister state as an
91	91	expression of the affection of the people of Texas for our one
92	92	national and indivisible union.