HJR 15: Relating to mandates imposed on the states by the federal government.
00HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 15 01 Relating to mandates imposed on the states by the federal government. 02 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 03 WHEREAS the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States states: 04 "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor 05 prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or 06 to the people."; and 07 WHEREAS the Tenth Amendment defines the total scope of federal power as being that 08 specifically granted by the United States Constitution and no more; and 09 WHEREAS the scope of power defined by the Tenth Amendment means that the federal 10 government was created by the states specifically to assume the responsibility for exercising 11 certain powers on behalf of the union as a whole, including the responsibility to provide the 12 funding needed to carry out those powers; and 13 WHEREAS in 1994 the states were demonstrably treated as tools of the federal 14 government used to carry out federal policy while bearing the costs of that policy; and
01 WHEREAS many federal mandates are directly in violation of the Tenth Amendment; 02 and 03 WHEREAS the United States Supreme Court has ruled in New York v. United States, 04 112 S.Ct. 2408 (1992), that the Congress may not simply commandeer the legislative processes 05 of the states; and 06 WHEREAS a number of proposals from previous administrations and some now pending 07 from the present administration and from the Congress would further violate the Tenth 08 Amendment of the United States Constitution; and 09 WHEREAS numerous resolutions have been forwarded to the federal government by 10 various state legislatures without any response or result from the Congress or the federal 11 executive branch; 12 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature hereby claims sovereignty under 13 the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise 14 enumerated and granted to the federal government by that constitution; and be it 15 FURTHER RESOLVED that this resolution serves as notice and demand to the federal 16 government, to cease and desist, effective immediately, imposing mandates on the states that are 17 beyond the scope of its authority under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United 18 States. 19 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the 20 United States; the Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and President of 21 the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Strom Thurmond, President Pro Tempore of the U.S. Senate; the 22 Honorable Newt Ginarich, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; to the Honorable Ted 23 Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, 24 U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress; and to the governor of each 25 of Alaska's sister states.