Texas 2025 - 89th Regular

Texas House Bill HB898 Compare Versions

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

Old	New	Differences
1	1	89R1228 TJB-F
2	2	By: Spiller H.B. No. 898
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7	7	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
8	8	AN ACT
9	9	relating to the Texas Sovereignty Act.
10	10	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
11	11	SECTION 1. (a) This Act may be cited as the Texas
12	12	Sovereignty Act.
13	13	(b) The legislature finds that:
14	14	(1) The people of the several states forming the
15	15	United States of America created the federal government to be their
16	16	agent for certain enumerated powers delegated by the states and the
17	17	people to the federal government through the United States
18	18	Constitution.
19	19	(2) The Tenth Amendment to the United States
20	20	Constitution confirms the intent and understanding of the people of
21	21	the United States that all powers not delegated to the United States
22	22	by the Constitution, or prohibited by it to the states, are reserved
23	23	to the states respectively, or to the people.
24	24	(3) Each power delegated to the federal government by
25	25	the United States Constitution is constitutionally limited to that
26	26	power as it was understood and exercised at the time it was
27	27	delegated. An amendment to the Constitution as ratified by the
28	28	states is required to expand or limit a constitutionally delegated
29	29	power.
30	30	(4) The United States Constitution authorizes the
31	31	United States Congress to exercise only those specific powers
32	32	enumerated in Section 8, Article I, United States Constitution, and
33	33	those other powers as may be delegated to Congress through
34	34	amendments to the Constitution as ratified by the states.
35	35	(5) Article VI, United States Constitution, makes
36	36	supreme the Constitution and federal laws enacted pursuant to the
37	37	Constitution, further requiring that public officials at all levels
38	38	and in all branches of government support the Constitution.
39	39	(6) The power delegated to the United States Congress
40	40	to regulate commerce among the several states under Section 8,
41	41	Article I, United States Constitution, is limited to federal
42	42	regulation of actual commerce between the states and among foreign
43	43	nations. Regulation of intrastate commerce is reserved to the
44	44	states and to the people of the states. The Commerce Clause of the
45	45	Constitution constrains the legislative, executive, and judicial
46	46	branches of the federal government.
47	47	(7) The power delegated to the United States Congress
48	48	to make all necessary and proper federal laws under Section 8,
49	49	Article I, United States Constitution, allows Congress to enact
50	50	only those laws necessary and proper to execute the
51	51	constitutionally delegated powers vested in the federal
52	52	government, all other powers being reserved to the states and to the
53	53	people of the states.
54	54	(8) The power delegated to the United States Congress
55	55	to provide for the general welfare of the United States under
56	56	Section 8, Article I, United States Constitution, in the General
57	57	Welfare Clause constitutionally constrains Congress when
58	58	exercising a delegated power to act in a manner that serves the
59	59	states and the people of the states well and uniformly.
60	60	(9) Sections 1 and 2, Article I, Texas Constitution,
61	61	provide that this state and the people of this state retain the
62	62	sovereign power to regulate the affairs of Texas, subject only to
63	63	the United States Constitution.
64	64	(c) The federal government does not have the power to take
65	65	any legislative, executive, or judicial action that violates the
66	66	United States Constitution.
67	67	(d) The contract with the State of Texas has been willfully
68	68	violated by the federal government and must be constitutionally
69	69	restored.
70	70	(e) This Act calls on all officials in federal, state, and
71	71	local government, in all branches and at all levels, to honor their
72	72	oaths to preserve, protect, and defend the United States
73	73	Constitution and its ratified amendments against any federal action
74	74	that:
75	75	(1) would unconstitutionally undermine, diminish, or
76	76	disregard the balance of powers between the sovereign states and
77	77	the federal government established by the United States
78	78	Constitution and its ratified amendments; or
79	79	(2) is outside the scope of the power delegated to the
80	80	federal government by the United States Constitution.
81	81	SECTION 2. Subtitle Z, Title 3, Government Code, is amended
82	82	by adding Chapter 394 to read as follows:
83	83	CHAPTER 394. ENFORCEMENT OF UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION
84	84	Sec. 394.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
85	85	(1) "Committee" means the Joint Legislative Committee
86	86	on Constitutional Enforcement.
87	87	(2) "Federal action" includes:
88	88	(A) a federal law;
89	89	(B) a federal agency rule, policy, or standard;
90	90	(C) an executive order of the president of the
91	91	United States;
92	92	(D) an order or decision of a federal court; and
93	93	(E) the making or enforcing of a treaty.
94	94	(3) "Unconstitutional federal action" means a federal
95	95	action enacted, adopted, or implemented without authority
96	96	specifically delegated to the federal government by the people and
97	97	the states through the United States Constitution.
98	98	Sec. 394.002. JOINT LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE ON
99	99	CONSTITUTIONAL ENFORCEMENT. (a) The Joint Legislative Committee
100	100	on Constitutional Enforcement is established as a permanent joint
101	101	committee of the legislature. The committee is established to
102	102	review federal actions that challenge the sovereignty of the state
103	103	and of the people for the purpose of determining if the federal
104	104	action is unconstitutional.
105	105	(b) The committee consists of the following 12 members:
106	106	(1) six members of the house of representatives
107	107	appointed by the speaker of the house; and
108	108	(2) six members of the senate appointed by the
109	109	lieutenant governor.
110	110	(c) Not more than four house members of the committee may be
111	111	members of the same political party. Not more than four senate
112	112	members of the committee may be members of the same political party.
113	113	(d) Members of the committee serve two-year terms beginning
114	114	with the convening of each regular legislative session.
115	115	(e) If a vacancy occurs on the committee, the appropriate
116	116	appointing officer shall appoint a member of the house or senate, as
117	117	appropriate, to serve for the remainder of the unexpired term.
118	118	(f) The speaker of the house and the lieutenant governor
119	119	shall each designate one member of the committee as a joint chair of
120	120	the committee.
121	121	(g) The committee shall meet at the call of either joint
122	122	chair.
123	123	(h) A majority of the members of the committee constitute a
124	124	quorum.
125	125	Sec. 394.003. COMMITTEE REVIEW OF FEDERAL ACTION. (a) The
126	126	committee may review any federal action to determine whether the
127	127	action is an unconstitutional federal action.
128	128	(b) When reviewing a federal action, the committee shall
129	129	consider the plain reading and reasoning of the text of the United
130	130	States Constitution and the understood definitions at the time of
131	131	the framing and construction of the Constitution by our forefathers
132	132	before making a final declaration of constitutionality, as
133	133	demonstrated by:
134	134	(1) the ratifying debates in the several states;
135	135	(2) the understanding of the leading participants at
136	136	the constitutional convention;
137	137	(3) the understanding of the doctrine in question by
138	138	the constitutions of the several states in existence at the time the
139	139	United States Constitution was adopted;
140	140	(4) the understanding of the United States
141	141	Constitution by the first United States Congress;
142	142	(5) the opinions of the first chief justice of the
143	143	United States Supreme Court;
144	144	(6) the background understanding of the doctrine in
145	145	question under the English Constitution of the time; and
146	146	(7) the statements of support for natural law and
147	147	natural rights by the framers and the philosophers admired by the
148	148	framers.
149	149	(c) Not later than the 180th day after the date the
150	150	committee holds its first public hearing to review a specific
151	151	federal action, the committee shall vote to determine whether the
152	152	action is an unconstitutional federal action.
153	153	(d) The committee may determine that a federal action is an
154	154	unconstitutional federal action by majority vote.
155	155	Sec. 394.004. LEGISLATIVE DETERMINATION. (a) If the
156	156	committee determines that a federal action is an unconstitutional
157	157	federal action, the committee shall report the determination to the
158	158	house of representatives and to the senate during:
159	159	(1) the current session of the legislature if the
160	160	legislature is convened when the committee makes the determination;
161	161	or
162	162	(2) the next regular or special session of the
163	163	legislature if the legislature is not convened when the committee
164	164	makes the determination.
165	165	(b) Each house of the legislature shall vote on whether the
166	166	federal action is an unconstitutional federal action. If a
167	167	majority of the members of each house determine that the federal
168	168	action is an unconstitutional federal action, the determination
169	169	shall be sent to the governor for approval or disapproval as
170	170	provided by Section 14, Article IV, Texas Constitution, regarding
171	171	bills.
172	172	(c) A federal action is declared by the state to be an
173	173	unconstitutional federal action on the day:
174	174	(1) the governor approves the vote of the legislature
175	175	making the determination; or
176	176	(2) the determination would become law if presented to
177	177	the governor as a bill and not objected to by the governor.
178	178	(d) The secretary of state shall forward official copies of
179	179	the declaration to the president of the United States, to the
180	180	speaker of the House of Representatives and the president of the
181	181	Senate of the Congress of the United States, and to all members of
182	182	the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that the
183	183	declaration of unconstitutional federal action be entered in the
184	184	Congressional Record.
185	185	Sec. 394.005. OTHER DETERMINATIONS OF UNCONSTITUTIONAL
186	186	FEDERAL ACTS. (a) This chapter does not limit or alter the
187	187	authority of the governor, the attorney general, a statewide
188	188	elected official, a state or federal court, a judge or justice, a
189	189	state or local appointed or elected official, or the governing body
190	190	of a political subdivision of this state to issue a verbal or
191	191	written opinion determining a federal action to be
192	192	unconstitutional.
193	193	(b) An opinion issued under Subsection (a) may be referred
194	194	to the committee for review under this chapter.
195	195	Sec. 394.006. EFFECT OF DECLARED UNCONSTITUTIONAL FEDERAL
196	196	ACTION. (a) A federal action declared to be an unconstitutional
197	197	federal action under Section 394.004 has no legal effect in this
198	198	state and may not be recognized by this state or a political
199	199	subdivision of this state as having legal effect.
200	200	(b) The state and a political subdivision of the state may
201	201	not spend public money or resources or incur public debt to
202	202	implement or enforce a federal action declared to be an
203	203	unconstitutional federal action.
204	204	(c) A person authorized to enforce the laws of this state
205	205	may enforce those laws, including Section 39.03, Penal Code,
206	206	against a person who attempts to implement or enforce a federal
207	207	action declared to be an unconstitutional federal action.
208	208	(d) This chapter does not prohibit a public officer who has
209	209	taken an oath to defend the United States Constitution from
210	210	interposing to stop acts of the federal government which, in the
211	211	officer's best understanding and judgment, violate the United
212	212	States Constitution.
213	213	(e) Texas officials in federal, state, and local government
214	214	shall honor their oaths to preserve, protect, and defend the United
215	215	States Constitution and shall act to constitutionally defend this
216	216	state and the people of this state.
217	217	Sec. 394.007. AUTHORITY OF ATTORNEY GENERAL. The attorney
218	218	general may defend the state to prevent the implementation and
219	219	enforcement of a federal action declared to be an unconstitutional
220	220	federal action.
221	221	SECTION 3. Chapter 37, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is
222	222	amended by adding Section 37.0056 to read as follows:
223	223	Sec. 37.0056. DECLARATIONS RELATING TO UNCONSTITUTIONAL
224	224	ACTS OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. (a) In this section, "federal
225	225	action" and "unconstitutional federal action" have the meanings
226	226	assigned by Section 394.001, Government Code.
227	227	(b) Any court in this state has original jurisdiction of a
228	228	proceeding seeking a declaratory judgment that a federal action
229	229	effective in this state is an unconstitutional federal action.
230	230	(c) A person is entitled to declaratory relief if the court
231	231	determines that a federal action is an unconstitutional federal
232	232	action.
233	233	(d) In determining whether to grant declaratory relief to a
234	234	person under this section, a court:
235	235	(1) may not rely solely on the decisions of other
236	236	courts interpreting the United States Constitution; and
237	237	(2) must rely on the plain meaning of the text of the
238	238	United States Constitution and any applicable constitutional
239	239	doctrine as understood by the framers of the constitution.
240	240	(e) Section 37.008 does not apply to relief sought under
241	241	this section.
242	242	SECTION 4. (a) Not later than the 30th day following the
243	243	effective date of this Act:
244	244	(1) the speaker of the house of representatives and
245	245	the lieutenant governor shall appoint the initial members of the
246	246	Joint Legislative Committee on Constitutional Enforcement
247	247	established under Section 394.002, Government Code, as added by
248	248	this Act; and
249	249	(2) the secretary of state shall forward official
250	250	copies of this Act to the president of the United States, to the
251	251	speaker of the House of Representatives and the president of the
252	252	Senate of the Congress of the United States, and to all members of
253	253	the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that this Act be
254	254	officially entered in the Congressional Record.
255	255	(b) Not later than the 45th day following the effective date
256	256	of this Act, the speaker of the house of representatives and the
257	257	lieutenant governor shall forward official copies of this Act to
258	258	the presiding officers of the legislatures of the several states.
259	259	SECTION 5. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
260	260	a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
261	261	provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
262	262	Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
263	263	Act takes effect September 1, 2025.