HCR 36 – AS INTRODUCED
2012 SESSION
05/01
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 36
A RESOLUTION urging Congress to amend or repeal legislation expanding the constitutionally delegated powers of federal government.
SPONSORS: Rep. Duarte, Rock 1; Rep. Mirski, Graf 10; Rep. Tamburello, Rock 3; Rep. Rappaport, Coos 1; Rep. Cox, Merr 6; Rep. Reagan, Rock 1; Rep. Tasker, Rock 1; Rep. Tregenza, Carr 2; Rep. Pitre, Straf 3
COMMITTEE: State-Federal Relations and Veterans Affairs
This concurrent resolution urges Congress to amend or repeal legislation expanding the constitutionally delegated powers of federal government.
12-2043
05/01
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twelve
A RESOLUTION urging Congress to amend or repeal legislation expanding the constitutionally delegated powers of federal government.
Whereas, under the United States Constitution, the federal government was assigned specific limited powers and most government functions were left to the states; and
Whereas, the relationship between the federal government and the states is formalized in and protected by the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, which provides: “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 embodies the principle of federalism, the idea that federal and state governments have separate areas of activity and that federal responsibilities were, as noted by James Madison, “few and defined;” and
Whereas, in recent decades, policymakers and courts have discarded the narrow interpretation of federalism in favor of much broader interpretation that enables the federal government to undertake many activities that were traditionally reserved to the states and private sector; and
Whereas, the federal grant-in-aid system is the primary mechanism that the federal government uses to extend its power into state and local affairs; and
Whereas, the grant-in-aid system is not only contrary to the principle of federalism intended by the framers of the Constitution, but has resulted in what President Ronald Reagan referred to as a “confused mess” of federal grants that makes government responsibilities unclear, breeds bureaucracy, and generates wasteful spending; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:
That the New Hampshire general court urges the United States Congress to adhere to the limits of federal power imposed by the Tenth Amendment and the principle of federalism intended by the framers of the Constitution; and
That Congress closely examine the constitutional and statutory authority supporting any federal action that would limit the policymaking discretion of the states, and carefully assess the necessity for such action; and
That federal laws that expand the federal grant in aid system or make federal funding contingent on the adoption of costly regulatory structures by the states be repealed or amended; and
That copies of this resolution, signed by the speaker of the house of representatives and the senate president, be forwarded by the house clerk to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the President of the United States Senate, and to each member of the New Hampshire congressional delegation.