82R4149 KYF-D

By: Kolkhorst H.J.R. No. 69

A JOINT RESOLUTION

applying to the Congress of the United States to call a convention to propose an amendment to the United States Constitution providing that the power to regulate health and education is reserved to the states.

WHEREAS, The federal government is engaged in unsustainable deficit spending to fund federally mandated but state-run programs such as Medicaid, and the continued growth in necessary spending on health and education strains the state budget; and

WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution reserves all powers not delegated to the federal government to the states and the people but has proven insufficient to protect the rights of the several states from encroachment; and

WHEREAS, Amendment of the United States Constitution to clarify and secure certain powers delegated to the states as provided by the Tenth Amendment, including the states' power to regulate health and education, is necessary to better ensure a more perfect union; and

WHEREAS, The United States Constitution contains no express restriction on the power of the federal government to regulate the provision of health and education; and

WHEREAS, Article V of the United States Constitution provides that on application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states Congress shall call a convention for proposing amendments to the constitution; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the 82nd Texas Legislature apply to Congress to call a convention under Article V of the United States Constitution for the exclusive purpose of proposing an amendment to the constitution providing that the power to regulate health and education, including the power to protect an individual's health and right to an education, is reserved exclusively to the states; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That the amendment proposed by the convention should further provide that the amendment supersedes both the Necessary and Proper Clause and the Commerce Clause of Section 8, Article I, as applied to federal legislation regulating health and education and that the amendment does not limit any other power delegated to the states; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That the amendment proposed by the convention should further provide that, if the federal government collects taxes for the purpose of health or education, the federal government must distribute the revenue from those taxes as aid to the several states as block grants permitting the states discretionary use of the funds for health and education; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That the amendment proposed by the convention should prohibit the federal government from enacting laws that mandate how states must spend health and education funding or that tax individual behaviors, including inactivity, for the purpose of regulating health; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That, unless rescinded by a succeeding legislature, this application by the 82nd Texas Legislature constitutes a continuing application in accordance with Article V of the United States Constitution until at least two-thirds of the legislatures of the several states have applied to Congress to call a convention to propose an amendment to the constitution to provide that the power to regulate health and education is reserved to the states, but if Congress proposes a constitutional amendment identical in subject matter to that contained in this resolution, this application is no longer of any force; 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 speaker of the House of Representatives and the president of the Senate of the Congress of the United States, and to all members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that this resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as an application to Congress for a convention to propose an amendment to the United States Constitution to provide that the power to regulate health and education is reserved to the states; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official copies of this resolution to the secretaries of state and to the presiding officers of the legislatures of the several states with the request that they join this state in applying to Congress for a convention to propose an amendment to the United States Constitution to provide that the power to regulate health and education is reserved to the states.