SJR 7: Relating to mandates imposed on the states by the federal government.
00SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 7 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 05 Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to 06 the States respectively, or to the people."; and 07 WHEREAS the Tenth Amendment defines the total scope of federal power as being 08 that 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 10 federal government was created by the states specifically to be an agent of the states; and 11 WHEREAS, today, the states are demonstrably treated as agents of the federal 12 government; and 13 WHEREAS many federal mandates are directly in violation of the Tenth Amendment; 14 and
01 WHEREAS the United States Supreme Court has ruled in New York v. United States, 02 112 S.Ct. 2408 (1992), that the Congress may not simply commandeer the legislative 03 processes of the states; and 04 WHEREAS a number of proposals now pending before the Congress may further 05 violate the Tenth Amendment of the United States Constitution; and 06 WHEREAS numerous resolutions addressing various mandates imposed on the states 07 by federal law have been sent to the federal government by the Alaska State Legislature 08 without any response or result; 09 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature hereby claims sovereignty under 10 the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise 11 enumerated and granted to the federal government by that constitution; and be it 12 FURTHER RESOLVED that this resolution serves as notice and demand to the 13 federal government to cease and desist, effective immediately, imposing mandates on the states 14 that are beyond the scope of its constitutionally delegated powers. 15 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the 16 United States; the Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and President 17 of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Strom Thurmond, President Pro Tempore of the U.S. 18 Senate; the Honorable Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; to the 19 Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the 20 Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress; 21 and to the governor of each of Alaska's sister states.