By:  Tallas                                          H.C.R. No. 152
       73R11150 MPC-D
                                 CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
    1-1        WHEREAS, The imposition of federal mandates on states is
    1-2  accelerating and an alarming number of these mandates are unfunded,
    1-3  placing the burden of compliance on state governments; and
    1-4        WHEREAS, Fiscal pressures affecting the national budget
    1-5  process suggest that this growing trend in federal legislation,
    1-6  which first requires action by state governments and then forces
    1-7  them to bear the associated costs, will intensify; and
    1-8        WHEREAS, While many mandated programs have worthy goals,
    1-9  congressional failure to provide adequate funds for implementation
   1-10  has placed state governments in an untenable position of attempting
   1-11  to satisfy the mandates with diminishing revenue or, by not doing
   1-12  so, jeopardizing eligibility for other federal funds; and
   1-13        WHEREAS, These events reflect a breakdown of the
   1-14  national-state partnership that is the foundation of American
   1-15  federalism and a regrettable undermining of the traditional checks
   1-16  and balances that should properly govern that system of federalism;
   1-17  and
   1-18        WHEREAS, If unchecked, this trend could eliminate
   1-19  state-government flexibility to effectively deal with traditional
   1-20  state and local problems, as limited funds are diverted to support
   1-21  federal mandates; and
   1-22        WHEREAS, Solutions to public policy problems, the
   1-23  identification of appropriate responsibility for such solutions,
   1-24  and the allocation of attendant public costs should be negotiated
    2-1  between state and national leaders rather than determined
    2-2  unilaterally; and
    2-3        WHEREAS, Legislators in the United States Congress must
    2-4  display their understanding of this principle and work with state
    2-5  governments either to provide relief from unfunded federal mandates
    2-6  or to appropriate adequate resources to carry them out; now,
    2-7  therefore, be it
    2-8        RESOLVED, That the 73rd Legislature of the State of Texas
    2-9  hereby urge the Congress of the United States to cease mandating
   2-10  programs that state governments are required to fund; and, be it
   2-11  further
   2-12        RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
   2-13  copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
   2-14  the speaker of the house of representatives and president of the
   2-15  senate of the United States Congress, and to all members of the
   2-16  Texas delegation to the congress with the request that it be
   2-17  officially entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to the
   2-18  Congress of the United States of America.