By Shapiro                                             S.C.R. No. 4
       74R2453 CCK-D
                                 CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
    1-1        WHEREAS, The United States Constitution, as adopted in 1789
    1-2  and amended by the Bill of Rights in 1791, established a system of
    1-3  federalism providing for a balanced allocation of authority between
    1-4  the national government and the states; and
    1-5        WHEREAS, As articulated specifically in the Tenth Amendment,
    1-6  delegated powers rest with the national government while residual
    1-7  undelegated powers and sovereignty are guaranteed to the states, if
    1-8  constitutionally permissible, or to the people; and
    1-9        WHEREAS, Expansive national legislation, including a wide
   1-10  assortment of unfunded federal mandates, has destroyed the original
   1-11  spirit of federalism by restricting the states' flexibility,
   1-12  forcing single national solutions to public problems, and
   1-13  commandeering state financial resources to pay for programs and
   1-14  requirements the federal government freely establishes but fails to
   1-15  pay for; and
   1-16        WHEREAS, Such mandates include legal orders that must be
   1-17  obeyed under threat of civil or criminal penalty, crosscutting
   1-18  requirements that make federal grants generally contingent on
   1-19  satisfaction of specified social and economic criteria, crossover
   1-20  sanctions that link requirements for one program to grant
   1-21  eligibility for another, and federal preemptions that intrude on
   1-22  areas of traditional state jurisdiction; and
   1-23        WHEREAS, The National Conference of State Legislatures, as of
   1-24  November 1994, has counted approximately 190 federal laws
    2-1  containing mandates that create fiscal and administrative burdens
    2-2  for state governments and their political subdivisions across the
    2-3  United States; and
    2-4        WHEREAS, The national government, responding to the broadly
    2-5  expressed sentiment of the states, must act forcefully to restore
    2-6  the sanctity of federalism as envisioned by the founders of the
    2-7  constitution and to relieve the states of pressures imposed on them
    2-8  by unfunded federal mandates; now, therefore, be it
    2-9        RESOLVED, That the 74th Legislature of the State of Texas
   2-10  hereby respectfully request the Congress of the United States to
   2-11  recognize the importance of constitutionally guaranteed state
   2-12  sovereignty and to work closely with state and local governments to
   2-13  reduce the impact wrought by the enactment of unfunded federal
   2-14  mandates; and, be it further
   2-15        RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
   2-16  copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
   2-17  the speaker of the house of representatives and president of the
   2-18  senate of the United States Congress, and to all members of the
   2-19  Texas delegation to the congress with the request that it be
   2-20  officially entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to the
   2-21  Congress of the United States of America; and, be it further
   2-22        RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
   2-23  copies also to the legislatures of the other states with the
   2-24  request that they join the Texas Legislature in petitioning the
   2-25  United States Congress for the restoration of balance to American
   2-26  federalism.