HJR 44: Relating to mandates and other conditions imposed on the states by the federal government.
00HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 44 01 Relating to mandates and other conditions imposed on the states by the federal 02 government. 03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 WHEREAS the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States states: 05 "The powers not delegated to the United States by the 06 Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to 07 the States respectively, or to the people."; and 08 WHEREAS the Tenth Amendment defines the total scope of federal power as being 09 that specifically granted by the United States Constitution and no more; and 10 WHEREAS the scope of power defined by the Tenth Amendment means that the 11 federal government was created by the states specifically to assume the responsibility for 12 exercising certain powers on behalf of the union as a whole, including the responsibility to 13 provide the funding needed to carry out those powers; and 14 WHEREAS, in recent years, the states have been demonstrably treated as tools of the
01 federal government used to carry out federal policy while bearing the costs of that policy; and 02 WHEREAS many federal mandates are directly in violation of the Tenth Amendment; 03 and 04 WHEREAS the United States Supreme Court has ruled in New York v. United States, 05 112 S.Ct. 2408 (1992), that "Congress may not simply 'commandeer the legislative processes 06 of the States by directly compelling them to enact and enforce a federal regulatory program'"; 07 and 08 WHEREAS the management of fish and wildlife resources by the federal government 09 within the State of Alaska is not authorized by the United States Constitution and is a gross 10 abrogation of power reserved to the several states thereunder; and 11 WHEREAS a number of proposals from previous administrations and some now 12 pending from the present administration and from the Congress would further violate the 13 Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and 14 WHEREAS the powers of the Congress are itemized in art. I, sec. 8, of the United 15 States Constitution, and the Congress should concentrate on carrying out those important 16 duties while leaving local matters to each of the states to resolve based upon the unique needs 17 and circumstances of each state; and 18 WHEREAS numerous resolutions have been forwarded to the federal government by 19 various state legislatures without any response or result from the Congress or the federal 20 executive branch; 21 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature hereby claims sovereignty under 22 the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise 23 enumerated and granted to the federal government by that constitution; and be it 24 FURTHER RESOLVED that this resolution serves as notice and demand to the 25 federal government to immediately cease and desist from 26 (1) imposing mandates on the states that are beyond the scope of its authority 27 under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and 28 (2) making any efforts to regulate, manage, or control the utilization of fish 29 and wildlife resources found within the State of Alaska. 30 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the 31 United States; the Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and President
01 of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Strom Thurmond, President Pro Tempore of the U.S. 02 Senate; the Honorable J. Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; to the 03 Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the 04 Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress; 05 and to the governor of each of Alaska's sister states.