82R9173 BPG-F
By: Price, Creighton, Harper-Brown, H.C.R. No. 85
Gonzales of Williamson, Kolkhorst
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The federal government was established by the states
through the ratification of the Constitution of the United States,
which granted carefully limited powers, yet through the years, the
relationship between the federal government and state governments
has been thrown out of balance; and
WHEREAS, The framers of the Constitution recognized that
separation of powers is essential and, accordingly, established
checks and balances not only among the branches of the federal
government but also between the federal government and state
governments; the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
provides that "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, Increasingly, the executive and legislative
branches of the federal government have by many actions usurped
powers reserved to the states and to the people, and the federal
judiciary has failed to stop many of these excesses; federal
preemption of state powers prevents states from acting as true
laboratories of democracy, seeking novel social and economic
policies without risk to the nation; and
WHEREAS, To restore the balance of power between the federal
government and state governments intended by the framers of the
Constitution of the United States, the federal government must
carefully consider, and be accountable for, the constitutional
boundaries of its jurisdiction; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 82nd Legislature of the State of Texas
hereby urge the United States Congress to enact legislation to
require that any subsequent law cite the section of the
Constitution authorizing Congress to enact the law, state
explicitly the extent to which the proposed section of law preempts
any state, local, or tribal law, and if it does preempt such a law,
provide an explanation of the reason or reasons for such
preemption; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That if Article I, Section 8, Clause 3, of the
Constitution of the United States is identified as the
constitutional provision granting authority to Congress for its
proposed law, Congress report a list of factual findings
establishing a substantial nexus between the regulatory effect of
the proposed law and interstate commerce; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That such legislation prohibit federal agency
rules and regulations from preempting or otherwise interfering with
state or local powers without express statutory authority and
require agencies to provide states with notice and an opportunity
to be heard in the rulemaking process; 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 president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of
Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the
members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that
this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.