HCR 25 – AS INTRODUCED
2010 SESSION
09/10
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 25
A RESOLUTION articulating the rights of the state of New Hampshire and of the several states of the United States.
SPONSORS: Rep. L. Christiansen, Hills 27
COMMITTEE: State-Federal Relations and Veterans Affairs
This house concurrent resolution articulates the rights of the state of New Hampshire and of the several states of the United States.
10-2298
09/10
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Ten
A RESOLUTION articulating the rights of the state of New Hampshire and of the several states of the United States.
Whereas, the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States reads, “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, some federal actions weaken states’ rights protected by 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, article IV, section 4 of the Constitution of the United States, reads, “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government,” and the Ninth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States reads, “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, 505 U.S. 144 (1992), that the United States Congress may not simply commandeer the legislative and regulatory processes of the states; and
Whereas, all states, including New Hampshire, find themselves regularly facing proposals from the United States Congress that weaken states’ rights protected by the Tenth Amendment; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:
That the New Hampshire state legislature hereby claims sovereignty for the state 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
That this resolution shall serve as notice and demand to the federal government to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers; and
That copies of this resolution be transmitted by the house clerk to the President of the United States, the Vice-President of the United States, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and the members of the New Hampshire congressional delegation.