00SENATE CS FOR CS FOR HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 20(STA)                                                                 
01 Urging the Congress of the United States to pass S. 1629, the Tenth Amendment                                           
02 Enforcement Act of 1996.                                                                                                
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
04  WHEREAS the United States Congress, by its authority to regulate commerce among                                        
05 the states, has repeatedly preempted state laws, including those relating to health, welfare,                           
06 transportation, communications, banking, environment, and civil justice, reducing the ability                           
07 of state legislatures to be responsive to their constituents; and                                                       
08  WHEREAS more than one-half of all federal laws preempting states have been                                             
09 enacted by the Congress since 1969, intensifying an erosion of state power that leaves an                               
10 essential part of our constitutional structure -- federalism -- standing precariously; and                              
11  WHEREAS the United States Constitution anticipates that our American federalism                                        
12 will allow differences among state laws, expecting people to seek change through their own                              
13 legislatures without federal legislators representing other states preempting states to impose                          
14 national laws; and                                                                                                      

01  WHEREAS constitutional tension necessary to protect liberty arises from the fact that                                  
02 federal law is "the supreme Law of the Land" while, in contrast, powers not delegated to the                            
03 federal government are reserved to the states or to the people, and that tension can exist only                         
04 when states are not preempted and, thus, remain credible powers in the federal system; and                              
05  WHEREAS less federal preemption means states can act as laboratories of democracy,                                     
06 seeking novel social and economic policies without risk to the nation; and                                              
07  WHEREAS S. 1629 is designed to create mechanisms for careful consideration of                                          
08 proposals that would preempt states in areas historically within their purview through                                  
09 procedural mechanisms in the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government,                               
10 namely                                                                                                                  
11   (1)  in the legislative branch, by requiring a statement of constitutional authority                                  
12 and an expression of the intent to preempt states;                                                                      
13   (2)  in the executive branch, by curbing agencies that may preempt beyond their                                       
14 legislative authority;                                                                                                  
15   (3)  in the judicial branch, by codifying judicial deference to state laws where                                      
16 the Congress is not clear in its intent to preempt;                                                                     
17  BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges that                                                            
18   (1)  the congressional delegation of this state cosponsor S. 1629 in order to                                         
19 show its support for a decisive role for states within the federal system;                                              
20   (2)  the United States Congress enact S. 1629, the Tenth Amendment                                                    
21 Enforcement Act of 1996, in order to strengthen the political safeguards of federalism as                               
22 anticipated under the United States Constitution; and                                                                   
23   (3)  the President of the United States sign S. 1629 as a means of ensuring full                                      
24 consideration of federalism principles within the exercise of executive powers.                                         
25  COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the                                
26 United States; the Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and President                            
27 of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the U.S. House of                                           
28 Representatives; the Honorable Bob Dole, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; to the                                     
29 Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the                                         
30 Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.