Bill Text: TX HCR29 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Declaring that presidential executive orders cannot interfere with states' rights.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-03-30 - Left pending in committee [HCR29 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-HCR29-Introduced.html
85R107 EEY-D | ||
By: Bell | H.C.R. No. 29 |
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WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment to the United States | ||
Constitution guarantees that "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 amendment, found within the Bill of Rights, | ||
defines the balance of power between the federal government and the | ||
states, authorizing the federal government to exercise only those | ||
functions delegated to it within the Constitution; and | ||
WHEREAS, In recent years, the federal government has | ||
increasingly relied on presidential executive orders to dictate | ||
policy while bypassing the demand for congressional consent; such | ||
unilateral edicts not only circumvent the legislative process and | ||
subvert our system of representative democracy, but also undermine | ||
the constitutionally protected doctrine of states' rights; and | ||
WHEREAS, The Texas Constitution affirms that Texas is a free | ||
and independent state subject only to the supremacy of the U.S. | ||
Constitution, and accordingly, neither the State of Texas nor its | ||
people are bound by laws enacted outside the scope of authorized | ||
executive power; now, therefore, be it | ||
RESOLVED, That the 85th Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
hereby declare that presidential executive orders have no state | ||
constitutional authority and cannot interfere with states' rights; | ||
and, be it further | ||
RESOLVED, That the 85th Texas Legislature hereby declare that | ||
presidential executive orders are not state government mandates and | ||
therefore should not and will not be treated as such by state | ||
agencies; moreover, executive orders are not mandates that may | ||
regulate the behavior or abrogate the rights and freedoms enjoyed | ||
by Texas citizens; and, be it further | ||
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward copies of | ||
this resolution to the governor of the State of Texas, to the chairs | ||
of all state regulatory boards, and to the executive directors of | ||
all state executive agencies; and, be it further | ||
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official | ||
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to | ||
the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of | ||
Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the | ||
members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that | ||
this resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record | ||
as a memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |