Bill Text: FL S0010 | 2010 | Regular Session | Enrolled

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Bill Title: Balanced Federal Budget [SPSC]

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 15-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2010-05-05 - Signed by Officers and filed with Secretary of State [S0010 Detail]

Download: Florida-2010-S0010-Enrolled.html

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ENROLLED 
2010 Legislature                                          SCR 10 
201010er 
1 
2         A concurrent resolution urging Congress to call a 
3         convention for the purpose of proposing amendments to 
4         the Constitution of the United States to provide for a 
5         balanced federal budget and limit the ability of 
6         Congress to dictate to states requirements for the 
7         expenditure of federal funds. 
8 
9         WHEREAS, fiscal discipline and economic integrity have been 
10  core principles of American governance, and 
11         WHEREAS, the American people have historically demanded the 
12  same prudent, responsible, and intellectually honest financial 
13  behavior from their elected representatives as ultimately 
14  compels individual behavior, and 
15         WHEREAS, it is the firm conviction of the Legislature of 
16  the State of Florida that it is wrong to fund the prosperity of 
17  the present generation by robbing future Americans of their own, 
18  and 
19         WHEREAS, mortgaging the birthright of our children and 
20  grandchildren is a dangerous departure from traditional American 
21  values which threatens to permanently undermine the strength of 
22  our nation, and 
23         WHEREAS, the national debt has nearly doubled over the past 
24  8 years and Florida’s share of that debt is $727 billion, more 
25  than all Floridians make in wages and salaries in 2 years, and 
26         WHEREAS, for the nation to pay off the entire federal debt 
27  by 2015, Congress would have to triple the federal income taxes 
28  of every American and devote the increase exclusively to debt 
29  payments, and 
30         WHEREAS, our debt is increasingly owed to the governments 
31  of foreign nations, not to the citizens of the United States; 
32  therefore, our wealth is transferred to others and will not be 
33  available to supply the means for America’s future growth and 
34  prosperity, and 
35         WHEREAS, this generation will bequeath to its children one 
36  of the world’s most indebted industrial democracies, and 
37         WHEREAS, high federal deficits cause increasingly high 
38  payments for debt interest in the future, make future borrowing 
39  more costly, reduce investment activity, and thus reduce the 
40  size of the future economy, and 
41         WHEREAS, the people of Florida recognized the wisdom of 
42  fiscal discipline and enshrined in its State Constitution the 
43  requirement for a balanced budget to place a prudent limit on 
44  the tendencies of government, and 
45         WHEREAS, the Florida Legislature has made fiscally 
46  responsible decisions, maintaining a balanced budget and saving 
47  the citizens of this State from crippling deficits, massive debt 
48  burdens, and bankruptcy, and 
49         WHEREAS, we the Legislature of the State of Florida call 
50  for the Constitution of the United States to be amended to 
51  require the Federal Government to operate with fiscal 
52  responsibility, common sense, and the revenues granted to it by 
53  the people, and 
54         WHEREAS, the Federal Government has for too long relied on 
55  revenue increases and borrowing against our future rather than 
56  on prudent spending decisions within the limits of current 
57  revenues, and 
58         WHEREAS, lasting resolution of this nation’s budget deficit 
59  can be achieved only by addressing the spending habits of our 
60  Federal Government, not by increasing the tax burden under which 
61  our citizens already labor, and 
62         WHEREAS, Article V of the Constitution of the United States 
63  makes provision for amending the Constitution on the application 
64  of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states, calling 
65  a convention for proposing amendments that shall be valid to all 
66  intents and purposes if ratified by the legislatures of three 
67  fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three 
68  fourths thereof, as one or the other mode of ratification may be 
69  proposed by Congress, NOW, THEREFORE, 
70 
71  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida, the House 
72  of Representatives Concurring: 
73 
74         That the Legislature of the State of Florida, with all due 
75  respect and great reluctance, does hereby make application to 
76  the Congress of the United States pursuant to Article V of the 
77  Constitution of the United States to call an Article V 
78  amendments convention for the sole purpose of proposing 
79  amendments to the Constitution of the United States: 
80         (1) To achieve and maintain a balanced budget by: 
81         (a) Requiring that such balanced budget account for all 
82  obligations of the Federal Government; 
83         (b) Allowing flexibility in federal balanced budget 
84  requirements by providing exceptions related to exigencies such 
85  as national emergencies or threats to the nation’s security; 
86         (c) Imposing spending limits on the Federal Government; 
87         (d) Setting extraordinary vote requirements for new or 
88  increased federal taxes and other revenues; and 
89         (e) Prohibiting federal mandates on states to impose taxes 
90  or fees. 
91         (2) To control the ability of the Congress and the various 
92  federal executive agencies to require states to expend funds by: 
93         (a) Limiting the ability of Congress and the various 
94  federal executive agencies to pass legislation requiring states 
95  to spend money or to take actions requiring the expenditure of 
96  money unless federal funds are provided in ongoing amounts 
97  sufficient to offset the full costs of such requirements; and 
98         (b) Limiting the ability of Congress to dictate to states 
99  requirements for the expenditure of federal funds other than 
100  such requirements as may be necessary to measure outcomes to be 
101  achieved through the expenditure of the federal funds, leaving 
102  to the several states the ability to decide how to best 
103  accomplish those outcomes. 
104         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this concurrent resolution 
105  supersedes all previous memorials applying to the Congress of 
106  the United States to call a convention for the purpose of 
107  proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, 
108  including Senate Memorial 234 and House Memorial 2801, both 
109  passed in 1976, and superseded, revoked, and withdrawn in 1988 
110  by Senate Memorial 302, and that such previous memorials are 
111  hereby revoked and withdrawn, nullified, and superseded to the 
112  same effect as if they had never been passed. 
113         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this concurrent resolution is 
114  revoked and withdrawn, nullified, and superseded to the same 
115  effect as if it had never been passed, and retroactive to the 
116  date of passage, if it is used for the purpose of calling a 
117  convention or used in support of conducting a convention to 
118  amend the Constitution of the United States for any purpose 
119  other than requiring a balanced federal budget or limiting the 
120  ability of the Federal Government to require states to spend 
121  money. 
122         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this concurrent 
123  resolution be dispatched to the President of the United States 
124  Senate, to the Speaker of the United States House of 
125  Representatives, to each member of the Florida delegation to the 
126  United States Congress, and to the presiding officers of each 
127  house of the several state legislatures.