Texas 2015 - 84th Regular

Texas House Bill HCR67 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	84R3165 JGH-D
2	2	By: Huberty H.C.R. No. 67
3	3
4	4
5	5	CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
6	6	WHEREAS, Each member of the legislature has sworn a solemn
7	7	oath to defend our United States and Texas Constitutions and takes
8	8	great pride in being a citizen of the United States of America,
9	9	where citizens have the right to petition their government for
10	10	redress of grievances; and
11	11	WHEREAS, Section 1, Article I, Texas Constitution, states
12	12	that "the perpetuity of the Union depend[s] upon the preservation
13	13	of the right of local self-government, unimpaired to all the
14	14	States"; Section 2, Article I, declares, "All political power is
15	15	inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on
16	16	their authority, and instituted for their benefit. The faith of the
17	17	people of Texas stands pledged to the preservation of a republican
18	18	form of government, and, subject to this limitation only, they have
19	19	at all times the inalienable right to alter, reform or abolish their
20	20	government in such manner as they may think expedient"; and
21	21	WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the
22	22	United States of America reads as follows: "The powers not
23	23	delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited
24	24	by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to
25	25	the people"; and
26	26	WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the
27	27	United States of America defines the total scope of federal power as
28	28	being that specifically granted by the Constitution of the United
29	29	States of America and no more; and
30	30	WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the
31	31	United States of America means that the federal government was
32	32	created by the states specifically to be an agent of the states with
33	33	powers both limited and enumerated; and
34	34	WHEREAS, Today, in 2015, the states are demonstrably treated
35	35	as agents of the federal government; and
36	36	WHEREAS, Many powers assumed by the federal government as
37	37	well as federal laws and mandates are in direct violation of the
38	38	Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of
39	39	America; 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, have always had rights that the federal government may
43	43	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,
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
51	51	New York v. United States, 505 U.S. 144 (1992), that Congress may
52	52	not simply commandeer the legislative and regulatory processes of
53	53	the states; and
54	54	WHEREAS, A number of proposals from previous administrations
55	55	and some pending with the present administration, as well as from
56	56	Congress, may further violate the Constitution of the United States
57	57	of America; now, therefore, be it
58	58	RESOLVED, That the 84th Legislature of the State of Texas
59	59	hereby claim sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the
60	60	Constitution of the United States of America over all powers not
61	61	otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the
62	62	Constitution of the United States of America; and, be it further
63	63	RESOLVED, That this serve as notice and demand that the
64	64	federal government, as our agent, halt and reverse, effective
65	65	immediately, its practice of assuming powers and imposing mandates
66	66	and laws upon the states for purposes not enumerated by the
67	67	Constitution of the United States of America; and, be it further
68	68	RESOLVED, That all compulsory federal legislation not
69	69	necessary to ensure rights guaranteed the people under the
70	70	Constitution of the United States that directs states to comply
71	71	under threat of civil or criminal penalties or sanctions or that
72	72	requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding be
73	73	prohibited and repealed; and, be it further
74	74	RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
75	75	copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
76	76	the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of
77	77	Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all members
78	78	of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that this
79	79	resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a
80	80	memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.