By Park                                               H.C.R. No. 17
       74R1339 SRD-F
                                 CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
    1-1        WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the
    1-2  United States reads as follows:
    1-3        "The powers not delegated to the United States by the
    1-4  Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to
    1-5  the States respectively, or to the people"; and
    1-6        WHEREAS, The Tenth  Amendment defines the total scope of
    1-7  federal power as being that specifically granted by the United
    1-8  States Constitution and no more; and
    1-9        WHEREAS, The scope of power defined by the Tenth  Amendment
   1-10  means that the federal government was created by the states
   1-11  specifically to be an agent of the states; and
   1-12        WHEREAS, In the year 1994, the states are demonstrably
   1-13  treated as agents of the federal government; and
   1-14        WHEREAS, Numerous resolutions have been forwarded to the
   1-15  federal government by the legislatures of several states without
   1-16  any response or result from congress or the federal government; and
   1-17        WHEREAS, Many federal mandates are directly in violation of
   1-18  the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and
   1-19        WHEREAS, The United States Supreme Court has ruled in New
   1-20  York v. United States that congress may not simply commandeer the
   1-21  legislative and regulatory processes of the states; and
   1-22        WHEREAS, A number of proposals from previous administrations
   1-23  and some now pending from the present administration and from
   1-24  congress may further violate the United States Constitution; now,
    2-1  therefore, be it
    2-2        RESOLVED by the 74th Legislature of the State of Texas, That
    2-3  the State of Texas hereby claim sovereignty under the Tenth
    2-4  Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers
    2-5  not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by
    2-6  the United States Constitution and that this measure serve as
    2-7  notice and demand to the federal government to cease and desist,
    2-8  effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of its
    2-9  constitutionally delegated powers; and, be it further
   2-10        RESOLVED, That the Texas Secretary of State forward official
   2-11  copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
   2-12  the president of the senate and speaker of the house of
   2-13  representatives of the United States Congress, and to all members
   2-14  of the Texas delegation to the congress with the request that it be
   2-15  officially entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to the
   2-16  congress and other officials of the federal government.