85R107 EEY-D
By: Bell H.C.R. No. 29
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment to the United States
Constitution guarantees that "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 amendment, found within the Bill of Rights,
defines the balance of power between the federal government and the
states, authorizing the federal government to exercise only those
functions delegated to it within the Constitution; and
WHEREAS, In recent years, the federal government has
increasingly relied on presidential executive orders to dictate
policy while bypassing the demand for congressional consent; such
unilateral edicts not only circumvent the legislative process and
subvert our system of representative democracy, but also undermine
the constitutionally protected doctrine of states' rights; and
WHEREAS, The Texas Constitution affirms that Texas is a free
and independent state subject only to the supremacy of the U.S.
Constitution, and accordingly, neither the State of Texas nor its
people are bound by laws enacted outside the scope of authorized
executive power; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 85th Legislature of the State of Texas
hereby declare that presidential executive orders have no state
constitutional authority and cannot interfere with states' rights;
and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the 85th Texas Legislature hereby declare that
presidential executive orders are not state government mandates and
therefore should not and will not be treated as such by state
agencies; moreover, executive orders are not mandates that may
regulate the behavior or abrogate the rights and freedoms enjoyed
by Texas citizens; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward copies of
this resolution to the governor of the State of Texas, to the chairs
of all state regulatory boards, and to the executive directors of
all state executive agencies; 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 officially entered in the Congressional Record
as a memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.