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S.J.R. 6

This document includes Senate 2nd Reading Floor Amendments incorporated into the bill on Wed, Feb 17, 2010 at 11:46 AM by rday. -->              1     

JOINT RESOLUTION - STATE

             2     
SOVEREIGNTY AND TENTH AMENDMENT

             3     
2010 GENERAL SESSION

             4     
STATE OF UTAH

             5     
Chief Sponsor: Howard A. Stephenson

             6     
House Sponsor: Carl Wimmer

             7     

             8      LONG TITLE
             9      General Description:
             10          This joint resolution of the Legislature strongly urges Congress and the President to
             11      refrain from exercising authority related to the individual states beyond that granted by
             12      the states in the Constitution of the United States and declares the state's sovereignty
             13      under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution.
             14      Highlighted Provisions:
             15          This resolution:
             16          .    strongly urges the United States Congress to refrain from passing, and the President
             17      of the United States to refrain from issuing, any law or executive order that violates
             18      the United States Constitution;
             19          .    strongly urges the United States Congress and the President of the United States to
             20      repeal any current law or executive order that violates the United States
             21      Constitution;
             22          .    strongly urges the federal government to refrain from entering into any treaty that
             23      conflicts with any provision of either the United States Constitution or the Utah
             24      State Constitution or that abridges the rights of the people as expressed in the
             25      United States Constitution;
             26          .    strongly urges the United States Congress to prohibit or repeal any compulsory
             27      federal law that directs states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties or



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             28
     sanctions or requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding;
             29          .    strongly urges the federal government, as the agent of the people of the state, to
             30      immediately cease and desist issuing mandates that are beyond the scope of
             31      constitutionally delegated powers;
             32          .    strongly urges all other states to join in a commitment to confine federal power to
             33      its constitutional limitations and restore the powers of the people and of the states;
             34      and
             35          .    declares sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United
             36      States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal
             37      government by the Constitution of the United States.
             38      Special Clauses:
             39          None
             40     

             41      Be it resolved by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
             42          WHEREAS, the people of the state of Utah hold "these truths to be self-evident -- that
             43      all people are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
             44      rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness -- and that to secure these
             45      rights, governments are instituted among people, deriving their just powers from the consent of
             46      the governed";
             47          WHEREAS, in 1787, the several states united in a republic and created the Constitution
             48      of the United States as a framework for a general government;
             49          WHEREAS, the framers of the Constitution proclaimed the scope of that government to
             50      be one "whose powers were to be few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State
             51      governments are numerous and indefinite . . . The powers reserved to the several States will
             52      extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and
             53      properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State";
             54          WHEREAS, the protection of those powers of the states was carefully enumerated in
             55      amendments to the United States Constitution;
             56          WHEREAS, in 1896, Utah entered into statehood by a contract between Utah and the
             57      several states, with Congress and the President concurring and acting as the agent for the states;
             58          WHEREAS, in so doing, Utah became a free, sovereign, and independent body politic



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             59
     by the name of the state of Utah;
             60          WHEREAS, the Constitution of the state of Utah affirms without exception the
             61      Constitution of the United States to be the supreme law of the land;
             62          WHEREAS, the Ninth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States declares
             63      "The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or
             64      disparage others retained by the people;"
             65          WHEREAS, the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States declares:
             66      "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the
             67      states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people;"
             68          WHEREAS, together, the Ninth and Tenth Amendments to the Constitution of the
             69      United States, define the total scope of federal power as being that granted by the Constitution
             70      of the United States and no more, with all others being retained or reserved to the states, or to
             71      the people;
             72          WHEREAS, today, a number of proposals and mandates have been issued to the states
             73      by the federal government that substantially exceed the intent of those few, defined, and limited
             74      powers enumerated in the Constitution of the United States;
             75          WHEREAS, since the people were bestowed by their Creator with unalienable rights
             76      and the people in turn created government to help secure and safeguard those rights, the people
             77      are superior to government and remain the master over it;
             78          WHEREAS, the people from the several states created the federal government, the
             79      federal government did not create the people or the states, and therefore it cannot exceed the
             80      authority given it by the people or the states;
             81          WHEREAS, by ratifying the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights, the several
             82      states created a general government for special purposes and delegated to that government
             83      certain powers, while reserving all other powers;
             84          WHEREAS, the Constitution of the United States is the people's document that
             85      delegates powers to the federal government, and there is no power granted to the legislative,
             86      executive, or judicial branches of government to delegate to others either the powers granted
             87      therein or to assume or delegate powers not granted by the Constitution;
             88          WHEREAS, to delegate powers to the federal government independent of the
             89      Constitution of the United States is usurpation of the people's powers;



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Senate 2nd Reading Amendments 2-17-2010 rd/jlw
             90
         WHEREAS, the federal government has exceeded its enumerated powers, and many
             91      federal laws are in violation of the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States;
             92          WHEREAS, on February 16, 2007, the people of the state of Utah took the position that
             93      "in opposition to the Jeffersonian principles of individual liberty, free markets, and limited
             94      government . . . the REAL ID Act wrongly coerces states into doing the federal government's
             95      bidding by threatening to refuse non-complying states' citizens the privileges and immunities
             96      enjoyed by other states' citizens;"
             97          WHEREAS, the Legislature rejected the federally mandated Real ID Act as an
             98      unwarranted assumption of federal power and as an unacceptable incursion into the right to
             99      privacy that the people of Utah have reserved to themselves in the Utah Constitution;
             100          WHEREAS, the federal government's unrestrained exercise of those portions of the
             101      United States Constitution that delegate to Congress a power "to lay and collect taxes, duties,
             102      imposts, and excises to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare
             103      of the United States" and "to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper" to regulate
             104      "commerce among the states" has served to destroy the intent of the limits of power imposed
             105      on Congress by its creators, the States of the Republic;
             106          WHEREAS, the people of Utah and all other states have a right S. under rule of law .S
             106a      to ignore or reject all
             107      unwarranted assumptions of power by other entities within and without its boundaries;
             108          WHEREAS, without this right, states would become mere administrative subdivisions
             109      of their intended servant, the federal government that the states created;
             110          WHEREAS, if Utah accepts these inappropriate applications of power and continues to
             111      allow Congress to exercise unbridled authority, it surrenders its own form of government, its
             112      sovereign power, and its responsibility to its citizens;
             113          WHEREAS, any act by the Congress of the United States, Executive Order of the
             114      President of the United States, or Judicial Order of the United States that assumes a power not
             115      delegated by the United States Constitution is a breach of the United States Constitution by the
             116      government of the United States, which would also breach the fundamental relationship
             117      between the creator, the state, and the federal government; and
             118          WHEREAS, acts that would cause this type of breach include: (a) establishing martial
             119      law or a state of emergency within a state without the consent of the state; (b) moving federal
             120      military personnel or units into a state without the consent of the state or with the intent to



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             121
     enforce federal laws or to assert the supremacy of the federal government; (c) requiring
             122      involuntary servitude or governmental service other than a draft during a declared war or
             123      pursuant to or as an alternative to incarceration after due process of law; (d) requiring
             124      involuntary servitude or governmental service of persons under the age of 18 years, other than
             125      pursuant to or as an alternative to incarceration after due process of law; (e) any act regarding
             126      religion, further limitations on freedom of speech, or further limitations on freedom of the
             127      press; (f) any act infringing on the right to keep and bear arms, including prohibitions of type or
             128      quantity of arms or ammunition; and (g) surrendering any power delegated or not delegated to
             129      any corporation or foreign government:
             130          NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of the state of Utah
             131      strongly urges the United States Congress to refrain from passing, and the President of the
             132      United States to refrain from issuing, any law or executive order that goes beyond the
             133      reservations expressed in this resolution, as those laws or executive orders would be a breach
             134      of the Constitution of the United States.
             135          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of the state of Utah strongly urges
             136      the United States Congress and the President of the United States to repeal any law or
             137      executive order currently in effect that goes beyond the reservations expressed in this
             138      resolution, as those laws and executive orders are a breach of the Constitution of the United
             139      States.
             140          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of the state of Utah strongly urges
             141      the federal government to refrain from entering into any treaty that conflicts with any provision
             142      of either the United States Constitution or the Utah State Constitution or that abridges the
             143      rights of the people as expressed in the United States Constitution.
             144          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature strongly urges the United States
             145      Congress to prohibit or repeal any compulsory federal law that directs states to comply under
             146      threat of civil or criminal penalties or sanctions or requires states to pass legislation or lose
             147      federal funding.
             148          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of the state of Utah, as an agent of
             149      the people of the state, strongly urges the federal government, to immediately cease and desist
             150      issuing mandates that are beyond the scope of constitutionally delegated powers.
             151          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of the state of Utah strongly urges



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             152
     all other states to join in a commitment to confine federal power to its constitutional limitations
             153      and restore the powers of the people and of the states.
             154          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of the state of Utah declares
             155      sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all
             156      powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of
             157      the United States.
             158          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this resolution be sent to the President of
             159      the United States, to the members of the United States Congress, and to the states and
             160      territories of the United States.





Legislative Review Note
    as of 9-29-09 9:29 AM


Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel


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