SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 20
(By Senators Boley, Barnes, Hall, Deem, Caruth, Sypolt, K.
Facemyer, Guills and Plymale)
The Legislature of West Virginia reasserts the State of West
Virginia's sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the
Constitution of the United States over certain powers and
serving notice to the federal government to cease and desist
certain mandates.
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 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 2010, the states are demonstrably treated as
agents of the federal government and many federal mandates are
directly in violation of the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of
the United States; and
Whereas, The United States Supreme Court has ruled in New York
v. United States, 112 S. Ct. 2408 (1992), that Congress may not
simply commandeer the legislative and regulatory processes of the states; and
Whereas, Any Act by the Congress of the United States,
Executive Order of the President of the United States of America,
or Judicial Order by the judicatories of the United States of
America which assumes a power not delegated to the government of
the United States of America by the Constitution of the United
States of America and which serves to diminish the liberty of any
of the several states or their citizens constitutes a nullification
of the Constitution of the United States of America by the
government of the United States of America; 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;
therefore, be it
Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the State of West Virginia reasserts 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 all compulsory federal legislation that
directs states to comply under threat of civil or criminal
penalties or sanctions or requires states to pass legislation or
lose federal funding be prohibited or repealed; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Clerks of both houses forward a
copy of this resolution to President Barack Obama and all members of West Virginia's Congressional Delegation.