By: Creighton, Hughes, Berman, Gattis,	H.C.R. No. 50
	Guillen, et al.

	HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
	WHEREAS, Each Member of the Legislature feels great pride in
	being a citizen of the United States of America, which includes the
	right of citizens to petition their government for redress of
	grievances; and
	WHEREAS, All Texans have benefited from this state's
	participation in the unique experience in democracy that first
	began on a field in Lexington, Massachusetts, and called the United
	States of America; and
	WHEREAS, Countless Texans have served in the Armed Forces of
	the United States with the brave sons and daughters of all our
	sister states to protect our state, our nation, and our union, and
	many of them gave the last full measure of devotion by offering
	their lives to preserve that union; and
	WHEREAS, Each member of the legislature has sworn a solemn
	oath to defend our national union; and
	WHEREAS, Each day, millions of Texans assemble in churches,
	synagogues, schools, arenas, fields, and homes 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 2009, 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 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, 112 S. Ct. 2408 (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
	and some now pending from the present administration and from
	congress may further violate the Constitution of the United States;
	now, therefore, be it
	RESOLVED by the house of representatives, the senate
	concurring, That the 81st Legislature of the State of Texas
	reaffirms 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 the 81st Legislature of the State of Texas
	hereby claim sovereignty 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, effective
	immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these
	constitutionally delegated powers; 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 chief clerk of the House of
	Representatives is directed to send a copy of this resolution to the
	senators and representatives of Texas in 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; and, be it further
	RESOLVED, That the chief clerk of the House of
	Representatives is directed to send a copy of this resolution to the
	President of the United States of America, the Vice President of the
	United States of America, the Speaker of the House of
	Representatives of the United States of America, the minority
	leader of the House of Representatives, and the minority leader of
	the Senate, and to the governor of each sister state as an
	expression of the affection of the people of Texas for our one
	national and indivisible union.