84R1694 TJB-F
By: Flynn H.B. No. 98
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the Texas Balance of Powers Act.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. (a) This Act shall be known as the Texas Balance
of Powers Act.
(b) The legislature finds that:
(1) The people of the several states comprising the
United States of America created the federal government to be their
agent for certain enumerated purposes and nothing more.
(2) The Tenth Amendment to the United States
Constitution defines the total scope of federal power as including
only those powers specifically delegated by the people to the
federal government. Those powers not delegated to the federal
government are reserved to the states or to the people themselves.
(3) Each power delegated to the federal government by
the United States Constitution encompasses only that power as it
was understood at the time it was delegated, subject only to an
expansion or limitation of that power by a subsequent amendment to
the constitution.
(4) The United States Constitution authorizes the
United States Congress to exercise only those powers enumerated in
Section 8, Article I, of the constitution, as well as certain other
powers delegated to Congress by subsequent amendments to the
constitution.
(5) The power delegated to the United States Congress
to regulate commerce among the several states under Section 8,
Article I, of the United States Constitution was not intended by its
drafters or understood by those who ratified it as an authorization
for the federal government to assume vast powers not directly
related to interstate commerce, many of which infringe on the
sovereignty of the states and the liberties of the people. Under
color of the Commerce Clause, the legislative, executive, and
judicial branches of the federal government have adopted and
implemented countless measures not authorized by the language or
original intent of the clause, many of which usurp the duties and
responsibilities reserved to the states by the Tenth Amendment.
(6) The power delegated to the United States Congress
to make all necessary and proper laws under Section 8, Article I, of
the United States Constitution was not intended by its drafters or
understood by those who ratified it to be a delegation of unlimited
power to the federal government to do anything it considers
necessary and proper. Instead, the Necessary and Proper Clause was
intended and understood to authorize Congress to only enact laws
actually necessary and proper to execute a power specifically
vested in the federal government by the constitution, without which
the vested power would be impossible to exercise.
(7) The power delegated to the United States Congress
to provide for the general welfare of the United States under
Section 8, Article I, of the United States Constitution was not
intended by its drafters or understood by those who ratified it to
authorize Congress to enact any legislation that it considers good
or desirable. Instead, the General Welfare Clause was intended and
understood to ensure that Congress, when exercising an enumerated
power, does so in a manner that serves all citizens well and
equally.
(8) In addition to the limitations imposed on the
power of the federal government by the United States Constitution
as originally ratified, the powers delegated to the federal
government were further restricted at the insistence of the people
through the ratification of the Bill of Rights. As such, this state
specifically rejects any federal claim that any provision of the
Bill of Rights authorizes new or expanded authority that may be
exercised by the federal government.
(9) No authority has ever been delegated to the
federal government to preempt state legislation, interfere with
internal state affairs reserved to the states, regulate state
courts in matters of state substantive law or procedure, or
otherwise act in a manner that interferes with the balance of powers
between the states and the federal government established by the
United States Constitution.
(10) The constitutional limitation on the scope of
federal power and the reservation of other powers to the states or
to the people are matters of contract between this state and its
people, and the United States, as of the date this state was
admitted to the United States of America.
(11) The federal government has acted in a manner
inconsistent with the language, intent, and spirit of the United
States Constitution in direct violation of the constitution and the
contract between this state and its people, and the United States.
This state rejects the unauthorized and excessive abuse of power by
the federal government that infringes on the rights of this state
and its people and that unconstitutionally undermines, diminishes,
and disregards the balance of powers between the states and the
federal government established by the constitution.
(c) In accordance with the United States Constitution, the
federal government is denied by this state the power to take any
legislative, executive, or judicial action that violates the
constitution, specifically including those actions that
unconstitutionally undermine, diminish, or disregard the balance
of powers between the states and the federal government established
by the constitution.
(d) This Act serves as notice from this state to the federal
government to cease and desist any and all unconstitutional
activities that are outside the scope of the power delegated to it
by the United States Constitution, including those activities that
unconstitutionally undermine, diminish, or disregard the balance
of powers between the states and the federal government established
by the constitution.
(e) This state and its people retain their sovereign power
to regulate the affairs of this state, subject only to the
limitations prescribed by the United States Constitution.
SECTION 2. Subtitle Z, Title 3, Government Code, is amended
by adding Chapter 393 to read as follows:
CHAPTER 393. NULLIFICATION OF CERTAIN UNCONSTITUTIONAL FEDERAL
LAWS, RULES, EXECUTIVE ORDERS, AND OTHER ACTIONS
Sec. 393.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Committee" means the joint legislative committee
on nullification.
(2) "Federal action" includes:
(A) a federal law;
(B) a federal rule, policy, or standard; and
(C) an executive order of the president of the
United States.
(3) "Unconstitutional federal action" means a federal
action enacted, adopted, or implemented without authority
specifically delegated to the federal government by the people
through the United States Constitution.
Sec. 393.002. JOINT LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE ON
NULLIFICATION. (a) The joint legislative committee on
nullification is established as a permanent joint committee of the
legislature.
(b) The committee consists of the following 14 members:
(1) the speaker of the house of representatives;
(2) the lieutenant governor;
(3) six members of the house of representatives
appointed by the speaker of the house; and
(4) six members of the senate appointed by the
lieutenant governor.
(c) Not more than four house members of the committee,
including the speaker of the house, and four senate members of the
committee, including the lieutenant governor, may be members of the
same political party.
(d) Members of the committee serve two-year terms beginning
with the convening of each regular legislative session.
(e) If a vacancy occurs on the committee, the appropriate
appointing officer shall appoint a member of the house or senate, as
appropriate, to serve for the remainder of the unexpired term.
(f) The speaker of the house and the lieutenant governor are
joint chairs of the committee.
(g) The committee shall meet at the call of either joint
chair.
(h) A majority of the members of the committee constitute a
quorum.
Sec. 393.003. COMMITTEE REVIEW OF FEDERAL ACTION. (a) The
committee may review any federal action to determine whether the
action is an unconstitutional federal action.
(b) Not later than the 180th day after the date the
committee holds its first public hearing to review a specific
federal action, the committee shall vote to determine whether the
action is an unconstitutional federal action.
(c) The committee may determine that a federal action is an
unconstitutional federal action only by majority vote of the total
membership of the committee.
(d) A federal action determined by the committee to be an
unconstitutional federal action has no legal effect in this state
unless and until the legislature refuses or fails to nullify the
action under Section 393.004.
Sec. 393.004. LEGISLATIVE VOTE FOLLOWING COMMITTEE
DETERMINATION. (a) If the committee determines that a federal
action is an unconstitutional federal action, each house of the
legislature shall, during the next regular legislative session,
vote on whether to nullify the action. An unconstitutional federal
action is nullified if a majority of the members of each house of
the legislature vote for nullification.
(b) The legislature may not vote to nullify a federal action
unless the committee has determined that the action is an
unconstitutional federal action.
(c) A nullified unconstitutional federal action has no
legal effect in this state and may not be recognized by this state
or a political subdivision of this state as having legal effect.
(d) This state shall prevent the implementation and
enforcement of a nullified unconstitutional federal action within
the boundaries of this state.
SECTION 3. (a) Not later than the 30th day following the
effective date of this Act:
(1) the speaker of the house of representatives and
the lieutenant governor shall appoint the initial members of the
Joint Legislative Committee on Nullification established under
Section 393.002, Government Code, as added by this Act; and
(2) the secretary of state shall forward official
copies of this Act to the president of the United States, to the
speaker of the House of Representatives and the president of the
Senate of the Congress of the United States, and to all members of
the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that this Act be
officially entered in the Congressional Record.
(b) Not later than the 45th day following the effective date
of this Act, the speaker of the house of representatives and the
lieutenant governor shall, as the joint chairs of the Joint
Legislative Committee on Nullification established under Section
393.002, Government Code, as added by this Act, forward official
copies of this Act to the presiding officers of the legislatures of
the several states.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2015.