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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES             H.R. NO.              
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                     HOUSE  RESOLUTION

RELATING TO PETITIONING CONGRESS TO PROPOSE AN AMENDMENT TO THE
   U.S. CONSTITUTION RESTRICTING THE JUDICIARY FROM LEVYING OR
   INCREASING TAXES. 


 1       WHEREAS, unfunded mandates by the United States Congress
 2   and the executive branch of the federal government increasingly
 3   strain already-tight state government budgets if the states are
 4   to comply; and
 5   
 6       WHEREAS, to further compound this assault on state
 7   revenues, federal district courts, with the blessing of the
 8   United States Supreme Court, continue to order states to levy
 9   or increase taxes to supplement their budgets to comply with
10   federal mandates; and
11   
12       WHEREAS, the court's actions are an intrusion into a
13   legitimate legislative debate over state spending priorities
14   and not a response to a constitutional directive; and
15   
16       WHEREAS, the Constitution of the United States of America
17   does not allow, nor do the states need, judicial intervention
18   requiring tax levies or increases as solutions to potentially
19   serious problems; and
20   
21       WHEREAS, this usurpation of legislative authority begins a
22   process that over time could threaten the fundamental concept
23   of separation of powers that is precious to the preservation of
24   the form of our government embodied by the Constitution of the
25   United States of America; and
26   
27       WHEREAS, sixteen states, including Alabama, Alaska,
28   Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Louisiana,
29   Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma,
30   South Dakota, Tennessee and Utah, have petitioned the United
31   States Congress to propose an amendment to the Constitution of
32   the United States of America that reads as follows:
33   
34       "Neither the Supreme Court nor any inferior court of the
35   United States shall have the power to instruct or order a state
36   or political subdivision thereof, or an official of such state
37   or political subdivision, to levy or increase taxes."; now,
38   therefore,

 
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                                  H.R. NO.              
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1   
 2       BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the
 3   Twentieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session
 4   of 2000, that this legislative body respectfully requests and
 5   petitions the Congress of the United States to propose
 6   submission to the states for their ratification an amendment to
 7   the Constitution of the United States of America to restrict
 8   the ability of the United States Supreme Court or any inferior
 9   court of the United States to mandate any state or political
10   subdivision of the state to levy or increase taxes; and
11   
12       BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that copies of this resolution be
13   transmitted to the President of the United States, the Speaker
14   of the United States House of Representatives, the President
15   Pro Tempore fo the United States Senate, the Secretary of the
16   United States Senate, the Clerk of the United States House of
17   Representatives, and the members of the Hawaii Congressional
18   delegation.
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22                         OFFERED BY:  ____________________________
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