By Craddick                                           H.C.R. No. 41
       74R525 CCK-D
                                 CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
    1-1        WHEREAS, America's system of federalism provides for a
    1-2  division of political powers between the national government and
    1-3  the 50 states by enumerating and limiting the powers of the
    1-4  national government constitutionally and reserving the remainder of
    1-5  permissible powers for exercise, if at all, by the states; and
    1-6        WHEREAS, The 10th Amendment to the United States Constitution
    1-7  declares this principle succinctly:
    1-8              "The powers not delegated to the United States by
    1-9        the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States,
   1-10        are reserved to the States respectively, or to the
   1-11        people.";
   1-12  and
   1-13        WHEREAS, The 10th Amendment, together with the 9th Amendment,
   1-14  which reserves unenumerated rights to the people, was added for a
   1-15  specific purpose relating to the adoption of the Bill of Rights;
   1-16  and
   1-17        WHEREAS, These two amendments, through their reservation of
   1-18  separate powers and rights, were designed to avoid any future
   1-19  expansion of the powers of the national government to include other
   1-20  possible governmental powers not expressly prohibited; and
   1-21        WHEREAS, Two centuries later, the national government has
   1-22  acted increasingly to invade the province of state sovereignty, by
   1-23  imposing countless mandates on state government and creating new
   1-24  state obligations and expenses without the benefit of compensating
    2-1  federal funding; and
    2-2        WHEREAS, The state response typically has been a rearguard
    2-3  action, seeking either to secure federal funding for existing
    2-4  mandates or to curb the proliferation in congress of new ones; and
    2-5        WHEREAS, A better recourse is to challenge the
    2-6  constitutionality of mandates wherever they violate the principle
    2-7  of federalism, and to actively reassert the powers of the states as
    2-8  guaranteed by the 10th Amendment to the United States Constitution;
    2-9  now, therefore, be it
   2-10        RESOLVED, That the 74th Legislature of the State of Texas
   2-11  hereby claim sovereignty under the 10th Amendment to the United
   2-12  States Constitution over all other powers not otherwise enumerated
   2-13  and granted to the federal government by that constitution; and, be
   2-14  it further
   2-15        RESOLVED, That the national government be instructed to cease
   2-16  and desist, effective immediately, from all mandates that lie
   2-17  beyond the scope of its authority under the reservation of powers
   2-18  guaranteed to the states by the 10th Amendment; and, be it further
   2-19        RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
   2-20  copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
   2-21  the speaker of the house of representatives and president of the
   2-22  senate of the United States Congress, and to all members of the
   2-23  Texas delegation to the congress; and, be it further
   2-24        RESOLVED, That official copies of this resolution be prepared
   2-25  for the presiding officers of the legislatures of the other states
   2-26  for their consideration.