BILL REQ. #:  H-0416.1 

Read first time 02/14/11.   Referred to Committee on State Government & Tribal Affairs.

     TO THE HONORABLE BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF EACH STATE LEGISLATURE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
     WHEREAS, The individual states composing the United States of America are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their general government. They constitute a general government for specific purposes and delegate to that government certain definite powers, reserving to each state those powers not delegated to the United States for their own self-government; and
     WHEREAS, When the general government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force; and
     WHEREAS, That the federal government created by the Constitution was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself, but that each state has an equal right and duty under Article VI of the Constitution to judge for itself whether the powers delegated have been surpassed; and
     WHEREAS, The recent construction applied by the federal government through the courts to those parts of the Constitution of the United States that delegate to Congress a power "to lay and collect taxes, duties, imports, and excises, to pay the debts, and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States," and "to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution, the powers vested by the Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof," destroys all limits on its power established by the Constitution. These words meant by the instrument to be subsidiary only to the execution of limited powers ought not to be construed to give unlimited powers nor parts thereof to be interpreted in a manner to destroy the limits of the Constitution; and
     WHEREAS, The preamble to the Bill of Rights reaffirms that the federal government is one of limited powers created by the states as an agent thereof, "the States having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added"; and
     WHEREAS, It is true as a general principle and declared under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States that, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."; and
     WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment defines the total scope of federal power as being those powers specifically granted to it by the Constitution of the United States and no more; and
     WHEREAS, Federalism is the constitutional division of powers between the national and state governments into a system of dual sovereignty and is widely regarded as one of America's most valuable contributions to political science; and
     WHEREAS, James Madison, "the father of the Constitution," said, "The powers delegated to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the state governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, [such] as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce. The powers reserved to the several states will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people"; and
     WHEREAS, Thomas Jefferson emphasized that the states are not "subordinate" to the national government, but rather the two are "coordinate departments of one simple and integral whole. The one is the domestic, the other the foreign branch of the same government."; and
     WHEREAS, Alexander Hamilton expressed his hope that "the people will always take care to preserve the constitutional equilibrium between the general and the state governments." He believed that "this balance between the national and state governments forms a double security to the people. If one [government] encroaches on their rights, they will find a powerful protection in the other. Indeed, they will both be prevented from overpassing their constitutional limits by [the] certain rivalship which will ever subsist between them."; and
     WHEREAS, The United States Supreme Court has ruled in New York v. United States, 505 U.S. 144 (1992) and Printz v. United States, 521 U.S. 898 (1997) that "the Federal Government may not compel the States to enact or administer a federal regulatory program," nor commandeer the legislative and regulatory processes of the states; and
     WHEREAS, Today, in 2011, the states are demonstrably treated as agents of the federal government; and
     WHEREAS, Many federal mandates are directly in violation of the Constitution of the United States; and
     WHEREAS, A number of proposals from previous administrations and some now being considered by the present administration and Congress may further violate the Constitution of the United States;
     NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully:
     (1) Proclaim that the State of Washington hereby reclaims sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States; and
     (2) Pray that the federal government maintain the balance of powers the Constitution of the United States has established and immediately cease and desist, forthwith, any and all mandates that are beyond the scope of its constitutionally delegated powers.
     BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of the United States, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives of each state legislature in the United States of America, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.