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CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
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WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment to the United States |
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Constitution guarantees that "powers not delegated to the United |
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States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are |
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reserved to the states respectively, or to the people"; and |
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WHEREAS, The amendment, found within the Bill of Rights, |
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defines the balance of power between the federal government and the |
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states, authorizing the federal government to exercise only those |
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functions delegated to it within the Constitution; and |
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WHEREAS, In recent years, the federal government has |
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increasingly relied on presidential executive orders to dictate |
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policy while bypassing the demand for congressional consent; such |
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unilateral edicts not only circumvent the legislative process and |
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subvert our system of representative democracy, but also undermine |
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the constitutionally protected doctrine of states' rights; and |
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WHEREAS, The Texas Constitution affirms that Texas is a free |
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and independent state subject only to the supremacy of the U.S. |
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Constitution, and accordingly, neither the State of Texas nor its |
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people are bound by laws enacted outside the scope of authorized |
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executive power; now, therefore, be it |
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RESOLVED, That the 84th Legislature of the State of Texas |
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hereby declare that presidential executive orders have no state |
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constitutional authority and cannot interfere with states' rights; |
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and, be it further |
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RESOLVED, That the 84th Texas Legislature hereby declare that |
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presidential executive orders are not state government mandates and |
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therefore should not and will not be treated as such by state |
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agencies; moreover, executive orders are not mandates that may |
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regulate the behavior or abrogate the rights and freedoms enjoyed |
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by Texas citizens; and, be it further |
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RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward copies of |
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this resolution to the governor of the State of Texas, to the chairs |
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of all state regulatory boards, and to the executive directors of |
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all state executive agencies; and, be it further |
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RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official |
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copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to |
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the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of |
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Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the |
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members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that |
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this resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record |
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as a memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |