Minnesota State Sovereignty Resolution

H.F. No. 997, as introduced - 86th Legislative Session (2009-2010) Posted on Feb 19, 2009A resolution memorializing the federal government to halt its practice of imposing mandates uponthe states for purposes not enumerated by the Constitution of the United States and affirming Minnesota's sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.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;" andWHEREAS, 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; andWHEREAS, 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; andWHEREAS, today, in 2009, the states are demonstrably treated as agents of the federal government; andWHEREAS, many federal mandates are directly in violation of the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; andWHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court has 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; andWHEREAS, 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 Legislature of the State of Minnesota that it urges the President and the Congress of the United States to halt the federal government's practice of imposing mandates upon the states for purposes not enumerated by the Constitution of the United States, and that it affirms Minnesota'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.BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the State of Minnesota is directed to prepare copies of this memorial and transmit them to the President of the United States, the President and the Secretary of the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, the chair of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, the chair of the House Committee on the Judiciary, and Minnesota's Senators and Representativesin Congress.