PRINTER'S NO. 3324
No. 402 Session of 1998
INTRODUCED BY FLICK, ARMSTRONG, BARRAR, SAYLOR, ORIE, WOGAN,
CLARK, NAILOR, MARSICO, EGOLF, KIRKLAND, HANNA, CORRIGAN,
PISTELLA, HERSHEY, GEIST, FARGO, ZUG, READSHAW, HENNESSEY,
STEVENSON, WILT, YOUNGBLOOD AND SEYFERT, MARCH 31, 1998
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON INTERGOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS,
MARCH 31, 1998
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
1 Declaring the sovereignty of the states and of the people, and
2 proposing principles by which the sovereignty of the states
3 and of the people may be restored to their intention under
4 the Constitution of the United States.
5 WHEREAS, More than two centuries ago, the sovereign states of
6 this nation, representing the sovereign people did, of their own
7 volition, ratify the Constitution of the United States and in so
8 doing, established the Federal Government to perform certain
9 limited and enumerated functions; under the Tenth Amendment of
10 the Constitution of the United States, the powers not delegated
11 to the Federal Government were "reserved to the States
12 respectively, or to the people"; and
13 WHEREAS, Throughout the history of the United States, and
14 especially in recent decades, the Federal Government has,
15 without right, blatantly disregarded state sovereignty by
16 arrogating unto itself powers that were to have been reserved to
17 the states and to the people, namely:
1 (1) It has conscripted states and their subordinate
2 levels of government to implement its programs through
3 Federal mandates, funded and unfunded.
4 (2) It has requisitioned officers of states and their
5 subordinate levels of government to perform duties on its
6 behalf, bypassing state constitutional and legislative
7 processes.
8 (3) It has, as a result of expanding power, imprudently
9 increased spending, increased taxation and increased
10 regulation, which have, in consequence, reduced economic
11 growth by unnecessarily discouraging investment and job
12 creation.
13 (4) It has, through deficit spending and other actions,
14 created massive Federal obligations that threaten the living
15 standards of the people, the solvency of the states and the
16 future of generations yet unborn.
17 (5) It has, by centralizing power in Washington, D.C.,
18 created a "democratic deficit," a condition under which the
19 Federal Government has assumed control over functions of
20 government that should have been reserved to state and local
21 governments, making effective control of government more
22 difficult for the people.
23 (6) It has, through unwarranted judicial intervention,
24 interposed itself between the states and the people on
25 matters not of Federal jurisdiction.
26 (7) It has, through imprudent judicial review,
27 systematically expanded the power of Congress and the
28 Executive by usurping powers that were not intended under the
29 Constitution of the United States.
30 (8) It has evaded the restraints of the nation's
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1 fundamental law, the Constitution of the United States, and
2 has in so doing engaged in the imposition of arbitrary laws,
3 administrative actions and judicial decisions;
4 and
5 WHEREAS, Through these actions, the Federal Government has
6 usurped the sovereignty of the states and, through these
7 actions, the Federal Government has usurped the sovereignty of
8 the people; and
9 WHEREAS, The Federal Government cannot, on its own volition,
10 legitimately diminish the sovereignty of the states and of the
11 people under the Constitution of the United States, the
12 fundamental law of the nation which may only be altered in the
13 manners prescribed by that fundamental law; and
14 WHEREAS, The policy failures that have accompanied expanded
15 central authority provide, in themselves, powerful testimony to
16 the importance of limiting the Federal Government to those
17 powers enumerated in the Constitution of the United States; to
18 correct these failures and to secure a more favorable future for
19 the nation, it is necessary that the powers expropriated by the
20 Federal Government be returned to the states and to the people;
21 and
22 WHEREAS, The following principles are necessary to the
23 restoration of the sovereignty of the states and of the people,
24 as required under the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution of the
25 United States:
26 (1) The Federal Government should be restored to the
27 role assigned to it under the Constitution of the United
28 States. The powers usurped from the states and from the
29 people by the Federal Government should be returned in an
30 expeditious and orderly manner. Mechanisms exist for
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1 interstate cooperation where necessary, such as interstate
2 compacts, voluntary uniform standards and amendments to the
3 Constitution of the United States.
4 (2) Constitutional clauses that have been the source of
5 illegitimate Federal expansion should be restored to their
6 original meaning. Federal expansion has often been based upon
7 unreasonably permissive interpretations of enumerated powers
8 under the Constitution of the United States, especially the
9 "commerce" clause.
10 (3) The Federal Government should not impose mandates,
11 unfunded or funded, on the states or on their subordinate
12 governments. The Constitution of the United States delineates
13 Federal responsibilities and reserves all other
14 responsibilities to the states or to the people. Federal
15 mandates on state or local governments are unnecessary and
16 inappropriate.
17 (4) The Federal Government should be the exclusive
18 financier of its programs. By partially funding Federal
19 programs, such as through matching grants, the Federal
20 Government distorts the priorities of state and local
21 governments and establishes a democratic deficit that
22 virtually disenfranchises state and local voters. The Federal
23 Government has a legal obligation to fully fund its programs
24 and should neither require nor entice state or local
25 governments to participate in the funding of Federal
26 programs.
27 (5) All Federal Government relationships with local
28 governments should be through the states. All governments in
29 the United States are the creation of the states, which are
30 the creation of the people. One government, the Federal
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1 Government, was created in concert by the states. All other
2 governments are the creation of and subordinate to the states
3 respectively. Direct Federal Government-local government
4 relationships are inappropriate, except to the extent
5 specifically authorized by the constitution or laws of a
6 particular state.
7 (6) The Federal government should not assign Federal
8 responsibilities to officers of state or local governments.
9 Various Federal laws designate state or local government
10 officers to perform Federal functions. The Federal Government
11 should enlist state officers or departments to assist it in
12 the performance of its duties only when specifically
13 authorized by the constitution or laws of a particular state.
14 (7) The Federal Government's treaty-making power should
15 be limited to powers that are clearly within the Federal
16 scope of responsibility. The states have delegated treaty-
17 making powers only with respect to those areas of authority
18 that have been delegated to the Federal Government.
19 (8) Congress should not act to displace state and local
20 police power, and the courts should not permit such
21 displacement, except where the Constitution authorizes.
22 Congress has preempted entire areas of regulation that have
23 traditionally been matters of state and local police power.
24 In addition, the Federal courts have improperly condoned
25 these congressional assaults on local governance, under the
26 doctrine of implied preemption, the so-called "dormant"
27 commerce clause and other constitutional provisions.
28 (9) A Constitutional mechanism should be established
29 that would give the states a direct and dispositive role in
30 protecting their sovereign powers against unwarranted
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1 encroachments pursuant to Federal statutes and regulations.
2 The Supreme Court of the United States, itself an organ of
3 the Federal Government, has forsaken the constitutional
4 principles of limited Federal power and state sovereignty.
5 Therefore, a constitutional amendment should be proposed by
6 Congress and ratified by the states whereby a provision of
7 Federal law may be repealed upon the adoption by two-thirds
8 of the states during any five-year period of a "Resolution of
9 Disapproval";
10 and
11 WHEREAS, In support of these principles, we commit ourselves
12 to the pursuit of such remedies as may be necessary to restore
13 the sovereignty of the states and of the people, by:
14 (1) Legal actions to challenge the illegitimate exercise
15 of Federal power.
16 (2) Repeals of laws by which Federal power has been
17 illegitimately expanded.
18 (3) Constitutional amendments to curtail unwarranted
19 Federal power.
20 (4) Such other actions as may be appropriate;
21 therefor be it
22 RESOLVED (the Senate concurring), That the General Assembly
23 do hereby reaffirm the sovereignty of the states and of the
24 people of the United States; and be it further
25 RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to
26 the presiding officers of each house of Congress, to each member
27 of Congress from Pennsylvania, to the Secretary of the United
28 States Senate, to the Chief Clerk of the United States House of
29 Representatives, to the presiding officers of each legislative
30 house of each of the other states in the nation and to members
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1 of the communications media.
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