By Talton                                             H.C.R. No. 11
       74R680 CCK-D
                                 CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
    1-1        WHEREAS, The 10th Amendment to the United States Constitution
    1-2  provides that "the powers not delegated to the United States by the
    1-3  Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to
    1-4  the States respectively, or to the people"; and
    1-5        WHEREAS, That amendment, included within the Bill of Rights,
    1-6  defines the total scope of federal power, limiting it to those
    1-7  functions specifically authorized elsewhere in the Constitution,
    1-8  and no more; and
    1-9        WHEREAS, Today, through numerous unfunded mandates, the
   1-10  federal government frequently violates the 10th Amendment, treating
   1-11  the states as its agents and commandeering state resources to carry
   1-12  out its will; and
   1-13        WHEREAS, The United States Supreme Court, in the 1992 case of
   1-14  New York v. United States, has reaffirmed the principle of state
   1-15  sovereignty as preserved by the 10th Amendment, emboldening state
   1-16  governments to begin dismantling unwanted forced mandates and to
   1-17  assertively reclaim their historic rights under our system of
   1-18  federalism; now, therefore, be it
   1-19        RESOLVED, That the 74th Legislature of the State of Texas
   1-20  hereby claim sovereignty under the 10th Amendment to the United
   1-21  States Constitution over all powers not otherwise enumerated and
   1-22  granted to the federal government by the United States
   1-23  Constitution; and, be it further
   1-24        RESOLVED, That this resolution serve as a notice and demand
    2-1  to the federal government to cease and desist, effective
    2-2  immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of its
    2-3  constitutionally delegated powers; and, be it further
    2-4        RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
    2-5  copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
    2-6  the president of the senate and speaker of the house of
    2-7  representatives of the United States Congress, and to all members
    2-8  of the Texas delegation to the congress with the request that it be
    2-9  officially entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to the
   2-10  congress and other officials of the federal government.