THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	31
TWENTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE, 2012
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

A RESOLUTION reaffirming hawaii's sovereignty under the tenth amendment to the constitution of the united states and demanding the federal government to halt its practice of assuming powers and imposing mandates on the states for purposes not enumerated in the constitution of the united states.

     WHEREAS, the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States reads that 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 and the powers of the federal government are limited and enumerated; and

WHEREAS, in 2012 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 that the federal government may not usurp; and

WHEREAS, Article IV, Section 4 of the United States Constitution states that the United States shall guarantee to every state in this Union a Republican form of government; and

WHEREAS, the Ninth Amendment to the United States Constitution states that the enumeration of 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 ruled in New York v. United States, 112 S. Ct. 2408 (1992), that Congress may not simply commandeer the legislative and regulatory processes of the states; and

WHEREAS, a number of proposals from current and past administrations and from Congress may further violate the Constitution of the United States; and

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-sixth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2012, the House of Representatives concurring, that the legislature of the state of Hawaii reaffirms this state's 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 demands that the federal government halt its practice of assuming powers and imposing mandates upon the states for purposes not set forth in the Constitution of the United States; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this resolution serves as notice and demand to the federal government to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of

constitutionally delegated powers; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that all compulsory federal legislation that directs states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties or sanctions, or requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding, be prohibited or repealed; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the President of United States Senate, to each member of the Hawaii congressional delegation, and to the Governor.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Reaffirms state sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.