STATE OF OKLAHOMA2nd Session of the 51st Legislature (2008)HOUSE JOINTRESOLUTION 1089 By: KeyAS INTRODUCEDA Joint Resolution claiming sovereignty under theTenth Amendment to the Constitution of the UnitedStates over certain powers; serving notice to thefederal government to cease and desist certainmandates; and directing distribution.WHEREAS, the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the UnitedStates reads as follows:"The powers not delegated to the United States by theConstitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved tothe States respectively, or to the people."; andWHEREAS, the Tenth Amendment defines the total scope of federalpower as being that specifically granted by the Constitution of theUnited States and no more; andWHEREAS, the scope of power defined by the Tenth Amendment meansthat the federal government was created by the states specificallyto be an agent of the states; andWHEREAS, today, in 2008, the states are demonstrably treated asagents of the federal government; andWHEREAS, many federal mandates are directly in violation of theTenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; andWHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court has ruled in New Yorkv. United States, 112 S. Ct. 2408 (1992), that Congress may notsimply commandeer the legislative and regulatory processes of thestates; andWHEREAS, a number of proposals from previous administrations andsome now pending from the present administration and from Congressmay further violate the Constitution of the United States.NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESAND THE SENATE OF THE 2ND SESSION OF THE 51ST OKLAHOMA LEGISLATURE:THAT the State of Oklahoma hereby claims sovereignty under theTenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over allpowers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federalgovernment by the Constitution of the United States.THAT this serve as Notice and Demand to the federal government,as our agent, to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandatesthat are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegatedpowers.THAT a copy of this resolution be distributed to the Presidentof the United States, the President of the United States Senate, theSpeaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Speakerof the House and the President of the Senate of each state'slegislature of the United States of America, and each member of theOklahoma Congressional Delegation.
"The plans differ; the planners are all alike"
-Bastiat
The resolution seems to be genuine as far as I could investigate. However, it appears to have been stuck in Oklahoma's Senate Rules Committee for 3 weeks now. Here's the House voting record on the bill.Probably just semantics here, but instead of declaring total sovereignty, just reaffirming the actual constitutional limitis of the federal government is, in my view, what's being done over there. However, while not sounding too exciting on first glance, this could mean the end of influence, at least in Oklahoma, for BATF, EPA, ED and all the other pervasive bureaucrats in D.C..I'm pretty excited about such a step I have to admit. It sure is worth keeping track of.
That is excellent. Very good. It would be good to see another 4 or 5 states do the same.
I would make a great bureaucrat. Wanna see? Click here. It's fun.
Sphairon:I'm pretty excited about such a step I have to admit. It sure is worth keeping track of.
Agreed. Do please keep us posted on this.
Danno - enjoyin' sunshine today.
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HURRAY!
It brings tears to my eyes as a 5th generation Okie on both sides!
I will certainly call my senator about this.
In the mean time www.searchandgive.com is a new search engine by Microsoft in order to compete with Google. They will donate $0.01 to the charity of your choice (hopefully you'll choose the Mises Institute) up to $5.00 a month. you'll find the Ludwig von Mises Institute under charities.
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This bill passed the house and was sent to the senate where the senate leadership sent it to the senate rules committee to die. When I inquired about the bill via email this is the response I received;
The House passed the measure and sent it to the Senate. The Senate assigned it to the Rules Committee – which means it will just die for lack of a hearing. That committee rarely meets and when a bill is sent there, it is pretty safe to assume it will die. Leadership makes the decisions on what bills are assigned to which committee and heard, so I wouldn’t know why they didn’t like or feel that was a viable piece of legislation.
Connach:The House passed the measure and sent it to the Senate. The Senate assigned it to the Rules Committee – which means it will just die for lack of a hearing. That committee rarely meets and when a bill is sent there, it is pretty safe to assume it will die. Leadership makes the decisions on what bills are assigned to which committee and heard, so I wouldn’t know why they didn’t like or feel that was a viable piece of legislation.
Sounds like I need to e-mail my state senators a complaint.
I got the impression the reaction to this was more about abortion and gay marriage rulings than anything else.
Absolutely! They need to know you are not pleased, we can not just sit idly by and let them do what they will. Since Charles Key took the time to write this wonderful piece of legislation we should show our support for it and him. Here is a link to the rules committee, they place it was sent to die; http://www.oksenate.gov/committees/standing/rules.htm and a link to the to the senators responsible for sending it there; http://www.oksenate.gov/Senators/leadership.htm This should make it easier for you and everyone else to do a little hell raising. I am waiting on a reply from senator Kenneth Corn on his stand on the bill. I will post his reply on this forum.
I got this response from Randy Brogdon (one of the house representatives who was pushing it through).
Mike morgan is Co-ProTemp, his counterpart is Glen Coffee a republican if Morgan doesn't like the 10th Maybe Mr.Coffee does. It would be worht it to send Glen a email also. I have sent Glen a email and am awaiting his response. Lets keep the pressure on these people if nothing else we might upset the apple cart.
Tell him he does not have to like it, just obey the damned law of the land!
A reply from Corn;
Thank you for your e-mail. I would have voted in favor of HJR 1089 had it been sent to a committee to be heard. It appears that there were disagreements between the Democratic and Republican leadership on which committee that the bill would assigned to. Both sides would have to agree to the same committee in order for it to be placed into one of the standing committees that would specifically handle that topic. When an agreement cannot be reached, the bills are automatically assigned to the Senate Rules Committee. That committee had well over 600 bills assigned to it for the Session. When that occurs, very few bills receive a hearing in that committee. As to the statement that this bill would have stopped the federal government from sending unfunded mandates to Oklahoma, that would be an incorrect statement. Resolutions only indicate the will of the legislature. They do not have the enforcement of law, nor would a state law of any kind prohibit the Congress of the United States from passing mandates on to Oklahoma.
While I am supportive of the concept of HJR 1089, I was not in a position to determine where the bill would be assigned or whether it would receive a hearing.
Kenneth Corn
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