H.C.R. 5 Enrolled
1
2
3
4
5
6 Cosponsors:
7 Brad L. Dee
8 Gregory H. Hughes
9 Don L. Ipson
10 Jerry B. Anderson
11 Stewart Barlow
12 Roger E. Barrus
13 Melvin R. Brown
14 Kay J. Christofferson
15 Jon Cox
16 Rebecca P. Edwards
17 Steve Eliason
18 Gage Froerer
19 Francis D. Gibson
20 Brian M. GreeneRichard A. Greenwood
Keith Grover
Stephen G. Handy
Eric K. Hutchings
Ken Ivory
Michael S. Kennedy
Bradley G. Last
Dana L. Layton
John G. Mathis
Ronda Rudd Menlove
Jim Nielson
Michael E. Noel
Curtis Oda
Lee B. Perry
Jeremy A. PetersonVal L. Peterson
Dixon M. Pitcher
Kraig Powell
Paul Ray
Edward H. Redd
Marc K. Roberts
Douglas V. Sagers
V. Lowry Snow
Jon E. Stanard
Keven J. Stratton
R. Curt Webb
John R. Westwood
Ryan D. Wilcox
Brad R. Wilson 21
22 LONG TITLE
23 General Description:
24 This concurrent resolution of the Legislature and the Governor declares that if a state
25 opts out of a federal program, the state should not have to contribute state dollars to the
26 federal program.
27 Highlighted Provisions:
28 This resolution:
29 . declares that if a state opts out of a federal program, it should not have to contribute
30 state dollars to the federal program.
31 Special Clauses:
32 None
33
34 Be it resolved by the Legislature of the state of Utah, the Governor concurring therein:
35 WHEREAS, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was passed
36 by the United States Congress in 1909 and ratified by the states in 1913;
37 WHEREAS, the 16th Amendment made the income tax a permanent fixture in the
38 United States tax system;
39 WHEREAS, the 16th Amendment gave Congress legal authority to tax income and
40 resulted in a revenue law that taxed incomes of both individuals and corporations;
41 WHEREAS, the income tax provided the means for policymakers to finance a range of
42 new federal aid programs;
43 WHEREAS, as the years passed, the portion of tax money collected by the federal
44 government and returned to the states was accompanied by an increasing number of
45 stipulations regarding how states must spend the money;
46 WHEREAS, many of these aid programs required states to match federal funds on a
47 dollar-for-dollar basis;
48 WHEREAS, unfortunately, matching requirements have induced excessive state
49 spending and continuous program expansion;
50 WHEREAS, in 1925, President Calvin Coolidge stated that aid to the states should be
51 cut because it was "encumbering the national government beyond its wisdom to comprehend,
52 or its ability to administer";
53 WHEREAS, federal aid has also prompted the growth in state bureaucracies, partly
54 because aid programs have often required that states set up new agencies to oversee spending
55 in the prescribed activities;
56 WHEREAS, when a state has to cut its budget, and it attempts to do it by cutting
57 federally funded programs, it can only save cents on the dollar;
58 WHEREAS, because a federal program cut looks more expensive than an equivalent
59 cut in a state-funded program, states often prefer to cut competing state-funded programs or
60 raise taxes;
61 WHEREAS, federal funding programs tend to expand state budgets, and, over time,
62 those programs grow faster than wholly state-owned functions and account for an ever-larger
63 portion of state budgets;
64 WHEREAS, initial state resistance to the expansion of federal aid usually bowed to the
65 reality that, even if a state opted out of new aid programs, its residents still had to pay federal
66 taxes to support federal aid spending in other states;
67 WHEREAS, the number of grants-in-aid programs rose from 15 in 1930 to 132 by
68 1960;
69 WHEREAS, during the 1960s, federal aid programs quadrupled from 132 in 1960 to
70 530 by 1970;
71 WHEREAS, efforts to trim federal aid in the 1980s were later reversed, and there have
72 been no major efforts to reform or cut the federal aid system since the mid-1990s;
73 WHEREAS, in recent years, the many failings of the federal aid system have become
74 more acute as hundreds of programs have been added;
75 WHEREAS, the Affordable Care Act, passed in 2010, added a range of new aid
76 programs and also involved a huge expansion in Medicaid, the largest federal aid program;
77 WHEREAS, in fiscal year 1993, Medicaid took up almost 12% of Utah's General Fund;
78 WHEREAS, in 2003, Medicaid took up 15% of Utah's General Fund, and this year,
79 Medicaid will consume 23% of the General Fund;
80 WHEREAS, this percentage is projected to be more than 30% in the next 10 years;
81 WHEREAS, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates, when comparing
82 federal spending in Utah to federal revenue received from Utah as a result of the Affordable
83 Care Act, Utah citizens will lose approximately $97 million per year to the federal government
84 to support the new health care reform law;
85 WHEREAS, today, the number of federal aid programs for the states is more than triple
86 the number just 25 years ago;
87 WHEREAS, the grants-in-aid system is not guided by an overall strategy, but has been
88 built over the decades as responses to pressures to fix state and local problems with federal
89 rules and subsidies;
90 WHEREAS, federal aid stimulates overspending by state governments and creates a
91 web of top-down rules that destroy state innovation;
92 WHEREAS, at all levels of the federal aid system, the focus is on maximizing the
93 money spent and regulatory compliance, not on delivering quality services;
94 WHEREAS, every dollar of federal aid sent to the states is ultimately taken from
95 federal taxpayers who live in the 50 states;
96 WHEREAS, federal grants, which is one form of federal aid, reduce state diversity and
97 innovation because the grants come with one-size-fits-all mandates;
98 WHEREAS, federal taxpayers pay the direct costs of the grants, but taxpayers at all
99 levels of government are burdened by the costly bureaucracy needed to support the system;
100 WHEREAS, each of the more than 1,100 current aid programs has different rules and
101 the activities funded by the programs often overlap, causing more confusion;
102 WHEREAS, the Federal Highway Program's flawed allocation formulas have caused
103 about half of the states, called donors and located mostly in the South and Great Lakes regions,
104 to pay proportionately more into the federal Highway Trust Fund than they get back;
105 WHEREAS, the lure of federal matching funds has led many states to rely too heavily
106 on this source of funding to address their problems;
107 WHEREAS, a fiscal analysis of the costs of accepting a federal grant over the life of the
108 grant would assist states in weighing the costs and benefits of participating in federal grant
109 programs;
110 WHEREAS, states can opt out of federal grants-in-aid but must still pay the taxes that
111 pay for those grants;
112 WHEREAS, if a state opts out of a federal program, the citizens of that state should not
113 be required to contribute taxpayer dollars to support the federal program; and
114 WHEREAS, states should be empowered to address the unique challenges inherent in
115 meeting the needs of their citizens:
116 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of the state of Utah, the
117 Governor concurring therein, declares that if a state opts out of a federal program, it should be
118 able to withhold and redirect federal income tax funds equivalent to the amount that would
119 have been used to fund federal operations for the federal program in the state.
120 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be sent to the Majority
121 Leader of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives,
122 and the members of Utah's congressional delegation.
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