By: Creighton, Hughes, Berman, Gattis, H.C.R. No. 50
Guillen, et al.
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Each Member of the Legislature feels great pride in
being a citizen of the United States of America, which includes the
right of citizens to petition their government for redress of
grievances; and
WHEREAS, All Texans have benefited from this state's
participation in the unique experience in democracy that first
began on a field in Lexington, Massachusetts, and called the United
States of America; and
WHEREAS, Countless Texans have served in the Armed Forces of
the United States with the brave sons and daughters of all our
sister states to protect our state, our nation, and our union, and
many of them gave the last full measure of devotion by offering
their lives to preserve that union; and
WHEREAS, Each member of the legislature has sworn a solemn
oath to defend our national union; and
WHEREAS, Each day, millions of Texans assemble in churches,
synagogues, schools, arenas, fields, and homes to pledge allegiance
to the flag of the United States of America and the one nation,
indivisible, for which that flag stands; and
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 the Congress of
the United States 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 by the house of representatives, the senate
concurring, That the 81st Legislature of the State of Texas
reaffirms the pride of all Texans in both our one and indivisible
national union and in our one and indivisible state and the common
heritage of both; and, be it further
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 not
necessary to ensure rights guaranteed the people under the
Constitution of the United States 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 chief clerk of the House of
Representatives is directed to send a copy of this resolution to the
senators and representatives of Texas in 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; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the chief clerk of the House of
Representatives is directed to send a copy of this resolution to the
President of the United States of America, the Vice President of the
United States of America, the Speaker of the House of
Representatives of the United States of America, the minority
leader of the House of Representatives, and the minority leader of
the Senate, and to the governor of each sister state as an
expression of the affection of the people of Texas for our one
national and indivisible union.