WA State Reps Introduce Bill on State Sovereignty
Of all the bills/resolutions concerning the 10th Amendment filed to date, I’m kind of partial to this one (New Hampshire comes a very close runner up, due to its extensive language) because not only does it specifically invoke the NY v. US Supreme Court case, but it goes into a bit of history from the Founding Fathers over the balance of power between the federal and several State governments.
A current listing of State-based initiatives can be found here.
HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 4009
_____________________________________________
State of Washington 61st Legislature 2009 Regular Session
By Representatives Shea, Klippert, Condotta, Kretz, Anderson, McCune, and Kristiansen
Read first time 01/30/09. Referred to Committee on State Government & Tribal Affairs.
1 TO THE HONORABLE BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND
2 TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF
3 REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
4 UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE
5 SENATE AND SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF EACH STATE’S
6 LEGISLATURE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
7 We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of
8 the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully
9 represent and petition as follows:
10 WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United
11 States specifically provides that, “The powers not delegated to the
12 United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States,
13 are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”; and
14 WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment defines the total scope of federal
15 power as being those powers specifically granted to it by the
16 Constitution of the United States and no more; and
17 WHEREAS, Federalism is the constitutional division of powers
18 between the national and state governments and is widely regarded as
19 one of America’s most valuable contributions to political science; and
1 WHEREAS, James Madison, “the father of the Constitution,” said,
2 “The powers delegated to the federal government are few and defined.
3 Those which are to remain in the state governments are numerous and
4 indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external
5 objects, [such] as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce. The
6 powers reserved to the several states will extend to all the objects
7 which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties,
8 and properties of the people.”; and
9 WHEREAS, Thomas Jefferson emphasized that the states are not
10 “subordinate” to the national government, but rather the two are
11 “coordinate departments of one simple and integral whole. The one is
12 the domestic, the other the foreign branch of the same government.”;
13 and
14 WHEREAS, Alexander Hamilton expressed his hope that “the people
15 will always take care to preserve the constitutional equilibrium
16 between the general and the state governments.” He believed that “this
17 balance between the national and state governments forms a double
18 security to the people. If one [government] encroaches on their
19 rights, they will find a powerful protection in the other. Indeed,
20 they will both be prevented from overpassing their constitutional
21 limits by [the] certain rivalship which will ever subsist between
22 them.”; and
23 WHEREAS, The scope of power defined by the Tenth Amendment means
24 that the federal government was created by the states specifically to
25 be limited in its powers relative to those of the various states; and
26 WHEREAS, Today, in 2009, the states are demonstrably treated as
27 agents of the federal government; and
28 WHEREAS, Many federal mandates are directly in violation of the
29 Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and
30 WHEREAS, The United States Supreme Court has ruled in New York v.
31 United States, 112 S. Ct. 2408 (1992), that Congress may not simply
32 commandeer the legislative and regulatory processes of the states; and
33 WHEREAS, A number of proposals from previous administrations and
34 some now being considered by the present administration and from
35 Congress may further violate the Constitution of the United States;
36 NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully resolve:
37 (1) That the State of Washington hereby claims sovereignty under
1 the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all
2 powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government
3 by the Constitution of the United States; and
4 (2) That this serve as a Notice and Demand to the federal
5 government to maintain the balance of powers where the Constitution of
6 the United States established it and to cease and desist, effective
7 immediately, any and all mandates that are beyond the scope of its
8 constitutionally delegated powers.
9 BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately
10 transmitted to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of the United
11 States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the
12 House of Representatives, the President of the Senate and the Speaker
13 of the House of Representatives of each state’s legislature of the
14 United States of America, and each member of Congress from the State of
15 Washington.
— END —
-Phil
14 responses to WA State Reps Introduce Bill on State Sovereignty
Yes, yes, yes all of these states are starting to invoke sovereignty. This is as a result of what this communist, marxist has tried to institute on the American people. Never before have I seen so many states, as a matter of fact never before have I seen even one state have to employ this measure. Let’s interpret this if we will. They are basically telling this marxist, leninist that if he tries to interfere with their Constitutional rights as afforded to them by the Founding Fathers there will be war. The man was elected by criminals, is being protected by criminals (SCOTUS), and is worshipped by criminals. It hasn’t even been one month and look at the damage this non-NBC has done. Do you think it is all fun and games now CNN? Go ahead U.S.A. bury you’re heads in the sand because there is no where else left to run.
This is truly exciting to see these state resolution brought forward. I hope I am not reading into things, but it appears that people across this country are beginning to awaken to the burden of an opressive federal government. The resolutions of course have not passed the legislatures yet, but it is a start. I hope the citizens of the applicable states, Washington, New Hampshire and I believe Oklahoma, call their state representatives and senators and urge them to vote for these resolutions.
CAL,
I think the thing to take away from all of these is the fact that federalism is alive and well in America; all that has to happen is for people to become educated, influenced and guided by this principle once again.
Thanks for the comment,
-Phil
Is someone keeping track of which States have already introduced this bill and which States have not? Also, it would be interesting to know if this movement, State Sovereignty, will boil down to Red States and Blue States. This remind me of an article, written by a Russian, that I read a couple months ago predicting the splitting of America into little States.
I have wrote to my senators and Congressman to follow the directions of WA, NH,MI,AZ, OK, In regards to the Sovereignty issue and to follow suit. But Here in Cali I don’t give much hope as look who we are dealing with. I might have to move, I will move if I have to.
California, the IOU state,
Dorothy,
With the help of readers, that’s precisely what I’m aiming to do — keep track of movements such as this.
Thanks for the comment,
-Phil
Phil,
Do you know if this issue is getting much coverage by the MSM?
Ladyhawke,
I would suspect not until, like Oklahoma last year, it at least gets past the State’s House (but died in the Senate) and then through the Senate. I would also think that nothing will occur in the media until at least one Governor from one of these States signs such a bill into law.
Thanks for the question,
-Phil
I will say this is encouraging. But more education as there is a deeper issue and let’s not be tricked , b/c they are very stealthy. The Usurper in office and minions have the bigger plan , we have finally starting to awake to..I will add we need tobe careful of pitfalls, and traps. Washington state is not a Conservative state by any means. But the fact of the matter is I agree with all the above comments. Which reminds me of the red /blue issue. Let them not try to trick us into a false breakup, perahps this is what they want and they have plans in place to make us look like what we want is happening, then by some unkown loop or illusion , trick they get us by the ears…. We must be on guard for any of their tactics.
I have been feeling so very disenfranchised by what is occuring in the other Washington so far from the Washington where I was born, raised and have lived my entire life. What was a citizen to do if they did not like the direction the country was headed? Thank you for giving me hope… I will be contacting not only each of the sponsors of this bill to see how I can help, but also my own representatives and urging them to support this legislation. It is long past time that “we the people” put our collective foot down and say “Enough!”
What is your take on the motivation and timing of this bill?
Scott,
I see these initiatives as part of a movement towards an attempt at holding the federal government in check. Realizing these bills/resolutions could take some time to actually get passed, this is all definitely a good start and — at the very least (these commentaries being proof positive) — getting the conversation going over federalism.
I’m intending to do a write-up on the SCOTUS case, US v. NJ, sharing the Justices’ opinions on the context of the 10th Amendment that allows for this kind of thing to occur, whenever I can sit down and put the electronic pen to paper. There’s a lot of history behind that case, and I think it’s important for people to understand exactly what’s going on here.
Thanks for the question,
-Phil
[...] WA State Reps Introduce Bill on State Sovereignty [...]
Thank you to all who supported this movement. I am proud beyond words that Washington state will join the others in fighting against the new facist government breeding in DC.
Here’s a great site for anyone wanting to follow the country-wide 10th ammendment movement.
http://www.tenthamendmentcenter.com/nullification/10th-amendment-resolutions/