By: Creighton, Hughes, Berman, Gattis, H.C.R. No. 50
      Guillen, et al.
 
 
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
         WHEREAS, Each Member of the Legislature feels great pride in
  being a citizen of the United States of America, which includes the
  right of citizens to petition their government for redress of
  grievances; and
         WHEREAS, All Texans have benefited from this state's
  participation in the unique experience in democracy that first
  began on a field in Lexington, Massachusetts, and called the United
  States of America; and
         WHEREAS, Countless Texans have served in the Armed Forces of
  the United States with the brave sons and daughters of all our
  sister states to protect our state, our nation, and our union, and
  many of them gave the last full measure of devotion by offering
  their lives to preserve that union; and
         WHEREAS, Each member of the legislature has sworn a solemn
  oath to defend our national union; and
         WHEREAS, Each day, millions of Texans assemble in churches,
  synagogues, schools, arenas, fields, and homes to pledge allegiance
  to the flag of the United States of America and the one nation,
  indivisible, for which that flag stands; and
         WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the
  United States reads as follows: "The 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 Tenth Amendment defines the total scope of
  federal power as being that specifically granted by the
  Constitution of the United States and no more; and
         WHEREAS, The scope of power defined by the Tenth Amendment
  means that the federal government was created by the states
  specifically to be an agent of the states; and
         WHEREAS, Today, in 2009, the states are demonstrably treated
  as agents of the federal government; and
         WHEREAS, Many federal laws are directly in violation of the
  Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and
         WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment assures that we, the people of
  the United States of America and each sovereign state in the Union
  of States, now have, and have always had, rights the federal
  government may not usurp; and
         WHEREAS, Section 4, Article IV, of the Constitution says,
  "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a
  Republican Form of Government," and the Ninth Amendment states that
  "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not
  be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people";
  and
         WHEREAS, The United States Supreme Court has ruled in New
  York v. United States, 112 S. Ct. 2408 (1992), that the Congress of
  the United States may not simply commandeer the legislative and
  regulatory processes of the states; and
         WHEREAS, A number of proposals from previous administrations
  and some now pending from the present administration and from
  congress may further violate the Constitution of the United States;
  now, therefore, be it
         RESOLVED by the house of representatives, the senate
  concurring, That the 81st Legislature of the State of Texas
  reaffirms the pride of all Texans in both our one and indivisible
  national union and in our one and indivisible state and the common
  heritage of both; and, be it further
         RESOLVED, That the 81st Legislature of the State of Texas
  hereby claim sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the
  Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise
  enumerated and granted to the federal government by the
  Constitution of the United States; and, be it further
         RESOLVED, That this serve as notice and demand to the federal
  government, as our agent, to cease and desist, effective
  immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these
  constitutionally delegated powers; and, be it further
         RESOLVED, That all compulsory federal legislation not
  necessary to ensure rights guaranteed the people under the
  Constitution of the United States that directs states to comply
  under threat of civil or criminal penalties or sanctions or that
  requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding be
  prohibited or repealed; and, be it further
         RESOLVED, That the chief clerk of the House of
  Representatives is directed to send a copy of this resolution to the
  senators and representatives of Texas in 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; and, be it further
         RESOLVED, That the chief clerk of the House of
  Representatives is directed to send a copy of this resolution to the
  President of the United States of America, the Vice President of the
  United States of America, the Speaker of the House of
  Representatives of the United States of America, the minority
  leader of the House of Representatives, and the minority leader of
  the Senate, and to the governor of each sister state as an
  expression of the affection of the people of Texas for our one
  national and indivisible union.