Resolution-assertion of states' rights.

WORKING DRAFT

ORIGINAL HOUSE

JOINT RESOLUTION
NO.
0002

ENROLLED JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 2, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SIXTIETH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF
WYOMING
2010 BUDGET SESSION

A JOINT RESOLUTION
demanding
Congress
cease and desist from enacting mandates that are beyond the scope of the enumerated powers granted to Congress by the
Constitution
of the United States.

WHEREAS,
t
he
T
enth
A
mendment 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
S
tates, are reserved to the
S
tates respectively, or to the people
"
; and

WHEREAS,
t
he
T
enth
A
mendment defines the total scope of federal power as being that specifically granted by the Constitution of the United States and no more; and

WHEREAS,
t
he scope of power defined by the
T
enth
A
mendment means that the federal government was created by the states specifically to be an agent of the states; and

WHEREAS, the states are demonstrably treated as agents of the federal government; and

WHEREAS,
m
any federal laws are directly in violation of the
T
enth
A
mendment to the
C
onstitution of the
United States
; and

WHEREAS,
t
he
T
enth
A
mendment assures that we, the people of the United States of America and each sovereign state in the
u
nion of
s
tates, now have, and have always had, rights the federal government may not usurp; and

WHEREAS,
S
ection 4,
A
rticle IV, of the Constitution says,
"
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government,
"
and the
N
inth
A
mendment 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,
C
ongress may not simply commandeer the legislative and regulatory processes of the states; and

WHEREAS, the United States Congress frequently considers and enacts laws, and the executive agencies of the federal government frequently promulgate regulations, the constitutional authority for which is either absent or tenuous, including, without limitation, the Real ID Act, which imposes significant unfunded mandates upon the states with respect to the traditional state function of drivers licensing, the Endangered Species Act, which, as construed by the United States Fish & Wildlife Service, authorizes a federal executive agency to require specific state legislation related to the traditional state function of wildlife management, the Clean Water Act, which, as construed by the Environmental Protection Agency, authorizes a federal executive agency to exercise regulatory jurisdiction over waters that are not subject to federal regulation, the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, which implements a policy of federal lands retention in derogation of the
"
equal footing
"
doctrine
.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF
WYOMING
:

Section 1.

That the
S
tate
of
Wyoming Legislature
claims sovereignty
on behalf of the State of
Wyoming
and for its citizens
under the
T
enth
A
mendment to the Constitution of the
United States
over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government
or reserved to the people
by the Constitution of the
United States
.

Section 2.

That the rights and liberties of Wyoming
,
its costates
and their respective citizens
must be protected from any dangers by declaring that Congress is limited by the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and that this state calls on its costates for an expression of their sentiments on acts not authorized by the United States Constitution.

Section
3
.

That this resolution serve as notice and demand to the federal government, as our agent, to cease and desist, effective immediately, from enacting mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers.
The state of
Wyoming
will not enforce such mandates.

Section
4
.

That all compulsory federal legislation that directs states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties or sanctions be prohibited or repealed.

Section
5
.

T
hat the Secretary of State of Wyoming transmit 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 the Wyoming Congressional Delegation
, with a request that this resolution be officially entered in the congressional record as a memorial to the Congress of the United States of America
.

(END)

Speaker of the House

President of the Senate

Governor

TIME APPROVED: _________

DATE APPROVED: _________

I hereby certify that this act originated in the House.

Chief Clerk

1