Bill Text: AZ SB1358 | 2012 | Fiftieth Legislature 2nd Regular | Engrossed
Bill Title: Neutralization; federal laws
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 5-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-03-15 - Senate third reading FAILED voting: (15-14-1-0) [SB1358 Detail]
Download: Arizona-2012-SB1358-Engrossed.html
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Senate Engrossed |
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State of Arizona Senate Fiftieth Legislature Second Regular Session 2012
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SENATE BILL 1358 |
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AN ACT
amending title 41, chapter 7, Arizona Revised Statutes, by adding article 14; relating to the legislature.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Title 41, chapter 7, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding article 14, to read:
ARTICLE 14. JOINT LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE
ON NEUTRALIZATION OF FEDERAL LAWS
41-1294. Joint legislative committee on neutralization of federal laws; members; powers and duties
A. The joint legislative committee on neutralization of federal laws is established consisting of:
1. The president of the senate or the president's designee, who serves as cochairperson of the committee.
2. Six members of the senate who are appointed by the president of the senate, not more than four of whom are members of the same political party.
3. The speaker of the house of representatives or the speaker's designee, who serves as cochairperson of the committee.
4. Six members of the house of representatives who are appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives, not more than four of whom are members of the same political party.
B. Members serve two-year terms beginning and ending on the convening of the regular session of the legislature each odd-numbered year. A majority of the members constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. The committee shall meet on the call of either cochairperson.
C. The committee shall recommend and propose legislation and call for a vote by simple majority to neutralize in its entirety a specific federal law or regulation that is outside the scope of the powers delegated by the people to the federal government in the United States Constitution. The committee shall make its recommendation within thirty days after receiving the federal legislation for consideration and process.
D. The committee may review all existing federal statutes, mandates and executive orders for the purpose of determining their constitutionality. The committee may recommend for neutralization existing federal statutes, mandates and executive orders enacted before the effective date of this section.
E. On the committee's recommendation for neutralization, the legislature shall vote on whether to nullify the action within sixty days after the committee's recommendation. Until the vote, the issue in question is of no effect in this state. The appropriate documentation reflecting the legislature's vote shall be documented in the journals of the respective houses.
F. If the legislature votes by simple majority to neutralize any federal statute, mandate or executive order on the grounds of constitutionality, this state and the citizens of this state shall not recognize or be obligated to live under the statute, mandate or executive order.
G. The secretary of the senate and the chief clerk of the house of representatives shall communicate the intentions of this section to the legislatures of the several states to assure that this state continues in the same esteem and friendship as currently exists and that this state considers union for specific national purposes, particularly those enumerated in the constitution of the united states, to be friendly to the peace, happiness and prosperity of all the states. The secretary of the senate and the chief clerk of the house of representatives shall jointly transmit a copy of this legislation to the President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and each member of congress from the State of Arizona with the request that this legislation be officially entered into the congressional record.
Sec. 2. Purpose and legislative declarations
A. The tenth amendment to the United States constitution guarantees and reserves to the states and the people all powers not delegated to the federal government elsewhere in the constitution as they were publicly understood at the time that the amendment was ratified on December 15, 1791, subject only to modification by duly ratified subsequent amendments to the United States constitution. The guarantee of those powers is a matter of compact between the state and people of Arizona and the United States as of the time that Arizona was admitted to statehood in 1912.
B. Pursuant to the compact between the state and people of Arizona and the United States as of the time that Arizona was admitted to statehood in 1912, the tenth amendment to the United States constitution reserves to the state and people of Arizona that other than the enumerated powers expressly delegated to the United States under article I, section 8 of the United States constitution, congress and the federal government will not exercise any purported additional control over or commandeer rights belonging to the state of Arizona or its people.
C. The United States constitution, ratified on June 21, 1788, affirms that the sole and sovereign power to regulate the state business and affairs rested in the state legislature and has always been a compelling state concern and central to state sovereignty. Accordingly, the foregoing public meaning and understanding of article I, section 8, the establishment clause of the first amendment and the tenth amendment of the United States constitution, is a matter of compact between the state and people of Arizona and the United States as of the time that Arizona was admitted to statehood in 1912. Further, the power to regulate commerce among the several states as delegated to the congress in article I, section 8, clause 3 of the United States constitution, as understood at the time of the founding, was meant to empower congress to regulate the buying and selling of products made by others, and sometimes land, associated finance and financial instruments, and navigation and other carriage, across state jurisdictional lines. This power to regulate commerce does not include agriculture, manufacturing, mining, major crimes, or land use nor does it include activities that merely "substantially affect" commerce.
D. At the time the United States constitution was ratified on June 21, 1788, the commerce clause was not meant or understood to authorize congress the federal judiciary to regulate the state courts in the matter of state substantive law or state judicial procedure. This meaning and understanding of article I, section 8, the establishment clause of the first amendment and the tenth amendment of the United States constitution, as they pertain to the validity of religious, sectarian or foreign law as being controlling or influential precedent, has never been modified by any duly ratified amendment to the United States constitution. Accordingly, the foregoing public meaning and understanding of article I, section 8 and the tenth amendment of the United States constitution, is a matter of compact between the state and people of Arizona and the United States as of the time that Arizona was admitted to statehood in 1912. Further, article I, section 8, clause 18 of the constitution, the "necessary and proper clause," is not a blank check that empowers the federal government to do anything it deems necessary or proper. It is instead a limitation of power under the common law doctrine of "principals and incidents," which restricts the power of congress to exercise incidental powers. There are two main conditions required for something to be incidental, and therefore, "necessary and proper." The law or power exercised must be:
1. Directly applicable to the main enumerated power. Some would say that without it, the enumerated power would be impossible to exercise in current, common understanding.
2. "Lesser" than the main power.
E. Pursuant to article I, section 8, clause 1 of the United States constitution ratified on June 21, 1788, the "general welfare clause" does not empower the federal government with the ability to do anything it deems good. It is instead a general restriction limiting the exercise of the enumerated powers of congress prescribed in article I, section 8 of the United States constitution requiring that congress only enact laws that serve all citizens well and equally. When James Madison was asked if this clause were a grant of power, he replied, "If not only the means but the objects are unlimited, the parchment [the Constitution] should be thrown into the fire at once." Thus, this clause is a limitation on the power of the federal government to act in the welfare of all when passing laws in pursuance of the powers delegated to the United States. Likewise, the commerce clause was not meant or understood to authorize congress or the federal judiciary to establish religious, sectarian or foreign statutes or case law as controlling or influential precedent. Accordingly, the foregoing public meaning and understanding of article I, section 8, the establishment clause of the first amendment and the tenth amendment of the United States constitution, is a matter of compact between the state and people of Arizona and the United States as of the time that Arizona was admitted to statehood in 1912.
F. The legislature of this state acknowledges that the commerce clause, the general welfare clause and the necessary and proper clause of the United States constitution were amended and made more specific and limiting at the people's insistence through the creation of the bill of rights, i.e., the second amendment, the ninth amendment and the tenth amendment. All amendments within the bill of rights were for the purpose of further restricting federal powers, vesting or retaining the ultimate power and control of the states by the people within the states. Therefore, the legislature of this state specifically rejects and denies any federal claim of expanded or additional authority that the federal government may from time to time attempt to exert, exercise or enforce under these clauses, because these actions totally disrupt and degrade the founders' emphasis on the balance of powers. Further, the people of the state of Arizona are aware that the federal government has amended and altered the spirit and the meaning of the commerce clause, all without proper legislative authority through amendment. Therefore, this state rejects and denies this unauthorized and excessive abuse of power, which has primarily acted as a detriment to states' rights and individual rights, and thereby deliberately altered the balance of powers.
G. Pursuant to the United States constitution, congress and the federal government are denied the power to establish laws within this state that are repugnant and obtrusive to the United States constitution, this state's constitution, state law and the citizens of this state. The federal government is restrained and confined in authority by the eighteen items as prescribed in article I, section 8 of the United States constitution.
H. Congress and the federal government are hereby denied the power to bind the states under foreign statute, court order or opinion or executive order, other than those provisions duly ratified by the congress as a treaty, as long as the treaty does not violate this state's constitution or the United States constitution.
I. Further, no authority has ever been given to the legislative branch, the executive branch or the judicial branch of the federal government to preempt state legislation or to destroy the balance of powers that is prescribed in the United States constitution.
J. This act serves as a notice and demand to the federal government to cease and desist all activities outside the scope of their constitutionally designated powers that diminishes the balance of powers as established.
K. It is the duty of the legislature of this state to adopt and enact all measures that may become necessary to prevent the wrongful enforcement of any federal laws or regulations duly neutralized within the boundaries and limits of this state.
L. Pursuant to article III, section 2 of the United States constitution, "in all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in which a state shall be party, the supreme court shall have original jurisdiction." In any cause of action between this state and the federal government regarding state neutralization of a federal legislation, judicial mandate or executive order, the proper jurisdiction for these disputes will lie with the supreme court of the United States alone. In the event of improper adjudication, the people's interest shall be maintained and retained through state referendum.
M. Under the tenth amendment, the people and state of Arizona retain their exclusive power to regulate the state of Arizona, subject only to the fourteenth amendment's guarantee that the people and state of Arizona shall exercise such sovereign power in accordance with each citizen's lawful privileges or immunities, and in compliance with the requirements of due process and equal protection of the law.
N. The ninth amendment to the United States constitution secures and reserves to the people of Arizona, as against the federal government, their natural rights to life, liberty and property as entailed by the traditional anglo-American conception of ordered liberty and as secured by state law, including their rights as they were understood and secured by the law at the time that the amendment was ratified on December 15, 1791, as well as their rights as they were understood and secured by the law in the state of Arizona at the time the Arizona constitution was adopted. The people and this state hereby proclaim that the guarantee of those rights is a matter of compact between this state and people of Arizona and the United States as of the time that Arizona was admitted to statehood in 1912.
