By:  Nelson, et al.                                    S.C.R. No. 6
                             SENATE 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 and reserving the remainder of permissible
    1-5  powers for exercise by the states or the people; and
    1-6        WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment to the United States
    1-7  Constitution 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 Tenth Amendment, together with the Ninth
   1-14  Amendment, which reserves unenumerated rights to the people, was
   1-15  added for a specific purpose relating to the adoption of the Bill
   1-16  of Rights; 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 United States Supreme Court, in the 1992 case of
    2-3  New York v. United States, has reaffirmed the principle of state
    2-4  sovereignty as preserved by the Tenth Amendment; now, therefore, be
    2-5  it
    2-6        RESOLVED by the 74th Legislature of the State of Texas, That
    2-7  the State of Texas hereby claim sovereignty under the Tenth
    2-8  Amendment to the United States Constitution over all other powers
    2-9  not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by
   2-10  that constitution; and, be it further
   2-11        RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
   2-12  copies of this resolution to the President of the United States, to
   2-13  the speaker of the house of representatives and president of the
   2-14  senate of the United States Congress, and to all members of the
   2-15  Texas delegation to the congress; and, be it further
   2-16        RESOLVED, That official copies of this resolution be prepared
   2-17  for the presiding officers of the legislatures of the other states
   2-18  for their consideration.