Florida's 10th Amendment Resolution

HOUSE BILL hb0031d HCR31
House Concurrent Resolution

A concurrent resolution instructing Congress to cease and desist mandates beyond the scope of its authority under the 10th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

WHEREAS, the 10th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States reads as follows: "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, the 10th Amendment defines the total scope federal power as being that specifically granted by the United States Constitution and no more, and

WHEREAS, the scope of power defined by the 10th Amendment means that the federal government was created by the by the states specifically to be an agent of the states, and

WHEREAS, today in 1995, the states are in fact treated as agents of the Federal Government, and

WHEREAS, numerous resolutions havebeen forewarded to the Federal Government by the Florida Legislature without any response or result from Congress or the Federal Government, and

WHEREAS, many federal mandates are directly in violation of the 10th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and

WHEREAS, the Vice President of the United States, in the Report of the National Performance Review, has recommended that unfunded mandates imposed from Washington, D.C., be cut, that Congress refrain from imposing new mandates, that an executive order be issued to limit the use of unfunded mandates in legislative proposals, regulations, and policies, and that the executive order will narrow the circumstances under which federal departments and agencies may impose new mandates, and

WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court has ruled in New York v. United States, 112 S. Ct. 2408 (1992), that Congress may not simply commandeer the legislative and regulatory processes of the states, and

WHEREAS, a number of proposals now pending from the present administration and from Congress would further violate the Unted States Constitution, NOW, THEREFORE,

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA, THE SENATE CONCURRING:

That the State of Florida hereby claims sovereignty under the 10th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all other powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the Federal Government by the United States Constitution, including at least sovereignty over its people and its natural resources, and that the Federal Government, as our agent, is hereby instructed to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope and authority under the 10th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this resolution be sent to the President of the United States, the Speaker of the United States House of Representative, the President of the United States Senate, and each house of legislature of each state of the United States of America.