82R2359 CBE-F
 
  By: Patrick, et al. S.C.R. No. 14
 
 
 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
         WHEREAS, Each member of the legislature has sworn a solemn
  oath to defend our national union and takes great pride in being a
  citizen of the United States of America, where citizens have the
  right to petition their government for redress of grievances; and
         WHEREAS, All Texans have benefited from this state's
  participation in the unique experiment in democracy that began on a
  field in Lexington, Massachusetts, and eventually became known as
  the United States of America; and
         WHEREAS, Countless Texans have served in the U.S. armed
  forces, alongside the brave sons and daughters of our sister
  states, and many of them gave the last full measure of devotion by
  offering their lives to preserve the union; and
         WHEREAS, At the same time, millions of Texans assemble in
  churches, synagogues, schools, arenas, athletic fields, and homes
  every day to pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of
  America and the one nation, indivisible, for which that flag
  stands; and
         WHEREAS, The Tenth 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 Tenth Amendment defines the total scope of
  federal power as being that specifically granted by the
  Constitution of the United States and no more; and
         WHEREAS, The scope of power defined by the Tenth Amendment
  means that the federal government was created by the states
  specifically to be an agent of the states; and
         WHEREAS, Today, in 2011, the states are demonstrably treated
  as agents of the federal government; and
         WHEREAS, Many federal laws are directly in violation of the
  Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and
         WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment assures that we, the people of
  the United States of America and each sovereign state in the Union
  of States, now have, and have always had, rights that the federal
  government may not usurp; and
         WHEREAS, Section 4, Article IV, of the constitution says,
  "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a
  Republican Form of Government," and the Ninth Amendment states that
  "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not
  be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people";
  and
         WHEREAS, The United States Supreme Court has ruled in New
  York v. United States, 505 U.S. 144 (1992), that the Congress of the
  United States may not simply commandeer the legislative and
  regulatory processes of the states; and
         WHEREAS, A number of proposals from previous
  administrations, from the present administration, and from
  Congress may further violate the Constitution of the United States;
  now, therefore, be it
         RESOLVED, That the 82nd Legislature of the State of Texas
  reaffirm the pride of all Texans in both our one and indivisible
  national union and in our one and indivisible state and the common
  heritage of both; and, be it further
         RESOLVED, That sovereignty be claimed under the Tenth
  Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers
  not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by
  the Constitution of the United States; and, be it further
         RESOLVED, That this serve as notice and demand to the federal
  government, as our agent, to cease and desist from mandates that are
  beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers,
  effective immediately; and, be it further
         RESOLVED, That all compulsory federal legislation not
  necessary to ensure rights guaranteed the people under the
  Constitution of the United States that directs states to comply
  under threat of civil or criminal penalties or sanctions or that
  requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding be
  prohibited or repealed; 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.