|
|
|
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
|
|
WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment to the United States |
|
Constitution guarantees that "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, The amendment, found within the Bill of Rights, |
|
defines the balance of power between the federal government and the |
|
states, authorizing the federal government to exercise only those |
|
functions delegated to it within the Constitution; and |
|
WHEREAS, In recent years, the federal government has |
|
increasingly relied on presidential executive orders to dictate |
|
policy while bypassing the demand for congressional consent; such |
|
unilateral edicts not only circumvent the legislative process and |
|
subvert our system of representative democracy, but also undermine |
|
the constitutionally protected doctrine of states' rights; and |
|
WHEREAS, The Texas Constitution affirms that Texas is a free |
|
and independent state subject only to the supremacy of the U.S. |
|
Constitution, and accordingly, neither the State of Texas nor its |
|
people are bound by laws enacted outside the scope of authorized |
|
executive power; now, therefore, be it |
|
RESOLVED, That the 85th Legislature of the State of Texas |
|
hereby declare that presidential executive orders have no state |
|
constitutional authority and cannot interfere with states' rights; |
|
and, be it further |
|
RESOLVED, That the 85th Texas Legislature hereby declare that |
|
presidential executive orders are not state government mandates and |
|
therefore should not and will not be treated as such by state |
|
agencies; moreover, executive orders are not mandates that may |
|
regulate the behavior or abrogate the rights and freedoms enjoyed |
|
by Texas citizens; and, be it further |
|
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward copies of |
|
this resolution to the governor of the State of Texas, to the chairs |
|
of all state regulatory boards, and to the executive directors of |
|
all state executive agencies; 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 officially entered in the Congressional Record |
|
as a memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |