82R9173 BPG-F

By: Price, Creighton, Harper-Brown, H.C.R. No. 85

Gonzales of Williamson, Kolkhorst

HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The federal government was established by the states through the ratification of the Constitution of the United States, which granted carefully limited powers, yet through the years, the relationship between the federal government and state governments has been thrown out of balance; and

WHEREAS, The framers of the Constitution recognized that separation of powers is essential and, accordingly, established checks and balances not only among the branches of the federal government but also between the federal government and state governments; the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that "the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people"; and

WHEREAS, Increasingly, the executive and legislative branches of the federal government have by many actions usurped powers reserved to the states and to the people, and the federal judiciary has failed to stop many of these excesses; federal preemption of state powers prevents states from acting as true laboratories of democracy, seeking novel social and economic policies without risk to the nation; and

WHEREAS, To restore the balance of power between the federal government and state governments intended by the framers of the Constitution of the United States, the federal government must carefully consider, and be accountable for, the constitutional boundaries of its jurisdiction; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the 82nd Legislature of the State of Texas hereby urge the United States Congress to enact legislation to require that any subsequent law cite the section of the Constitution authorizing Congress to enact the law, state explicitly the extent to which the proposed section of law preempts any state, local, or tribal law, and if it does preempt such a law, provide an explanation of the reason or reasons for such preemption; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That if Article I, Section 8, Clause 3, of the Constitution of the United States is identified as the constitutional provision granting authority to Congress for its proposed law, Congress report a list of factual findings establishing a substantial nexus between the regulatory effect of the proposed law and interstate commerce; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That such legislation prohibit federal agency rules and regulations from preempting or otherwise interfering with state or local powers without express statutory authority and require agencies to provide states with notice and an opportunity to be heard in the rulemaking process; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.