HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 54

(By Delegates Ridenour, Adkins, Barnhart, Butler, Coop-Gonzalez, Crouse, Dillon, Foster, Heckert, Horst, Kimble, Kirby, Kump, Mallow, Marple, Martin, Moore, Petitto, C. Pritt, and Vance)

[Introduced January 30, 2024; Referred
 to the Committee on the Judiciary then Rules]

Recognizing that West Virginia has standing in matters relating to issues that impact people of this state.

Whereas, The Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution states "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 acknowledges the authorities of the States, as these are inherent in a sovereign state; and,

Whereas, The Declaration of Independence asserts categorically that the People "are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights;" and that "Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed;" and,

Whereas, During the debates over ratification of the Constitution, President James Madison, the acknowledged Father of both the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights, recognized that the States were sovereign and that all power, both in the States and by the federal government, is derived from, dependent on, and subservient to the People themselves; and,

Whereas, Any judicial ruling that deliberately restricts the authorities of the States to engage in governance that does not violate the limited and specified powers granted to the federal government in the Constitution, violates the Constitution, and is invalid and a usurpation of the authorities granted in the Constitution of the United States under Article III to the Judicial Branch; and,

Whereas, The People and, as part of our Federalist system of government, their duly elected State representatives, are ultimately responsible for their own governance; and,

Whereas, The Constitution of West Virginia in ARTICLE I "Relations to the Government of the United States" states "The government of the United States is a government of enumerated powers, and all powers not delegated to it, nor inhibited to the States, are reserved to the States or to the people thereof. Among the powers so reserved to the States is the exclusive regulation of their own internal government and police; and it is the high and solemn duty of the several departments of government, created by this Constitution, to guard and protect the people of this State from all encroachments upon the rights so reserved";  and

Whereas, The Legislature of West Virginia finds that the People, via their state representatives, have standing in all matters related to their governance; therefore, be it.

Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That the State of West Virginia recognizes no judicial authority that denies standing to the State of West Virginia in matters that relate to issues that impact the People of West Virginia; and

Be it further resolved, That any efforts to restrict the standing of the State of West Virginia in such matters are illegal, void and an attack on the sovereignty of the People and State of West Virginia.