Archive: state sovereignty

  • Federalism Education Requirements for Public Attorneys January 15, 2014

    Federalism Education Requirements for Public Attorneys Whereas, the High Court has reiterated time and again that the sovereignty, jurisdiction, and even the supremacy of the States in their constitutional spheres is essential to the balance between State and Federal governing partners; and Whereas, Coleman v. Thompson observes that “the Constitution divides authority between federal and state governments for the protection of individuals … [and that] federalism secures to citizens the liberties that derive from the diffusion of sovereign power” and Whereas, just last year the United States Supreme Court admonished in NFIB v. Sebelius, “The independent power of the States […]

  • Checks and Balances in Government Amendment January 15, 2014

    Checks and Balances in Government Amendment Article 1 Title. This article is known as the “Checks and Balances in Government Amendment.” Article 2 Denial of State Personnel and Resources to Unconstitutional Acts. A.  The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land to which all government, state and federal, is subject. B.  To protect the people’s freedom and to preserve the checks and balances of the United States Constitution, this state may exercise its sovereign authority to restrict the actions of its personnel and the use of its financial resources to purposes that are consistent with […]

  • Resolution Demanding that Congress Convey Title of Federal Public Lands to the States January 1, 2014

    Resolution Demanding that Congress Convey Title of Federal Public Lands to the States Summary This resolution urges the US federal government to extinguish title and government jurisdiction over public lands that are held in trust by the US federal government and convey title and jurisdiction to willing states in which the federal public lands are located as was promised in congressional resolutions in 1780, the Land Ordinance of 1784 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, among others.  Currently, huge swaths (over 50 percent) of the land in our nation’s western states are controlled by the federal government making it impossible […]

  • Compact for America: Balanced Budget Amendment January 1, 2014

    Compact for America: Balanced Budget Amendment Summary The Compact for America initiative condenses four state legislative acts (the Article V application, delegate appointment, prohibition on an invalid convention conducted without authority, ratification) into one legislative act – the Compact for America.  The Compact itself would ultimately unite the 38 signing states into proposing, voting on and ratifying a Balanced Budget Amendment at a convention and appoints all delegates for the signing states, defines the convention rules, and prohibits any signing state from ratifying or participating in any convention that disregarded its state-assigned agenda.  The Compact is designed to give the […]

  • State Sovereignty for Air Quality and Visibility Act March 15, 2013

     Section 1. {Statement of Purpose} As part of the State of {state}’s ongoing development and implementation of a long-term strategy in connection with visibility and air quality related values within class I areas, the Department________ shall evaluate the extent to which the activities of the federal government are directly adversely impacting visibility and air quality related values within class I areas and make a determination whether such entities have taken or are taking all reasonable steps necessary to remedy that impact.  At any time, the Department________ may make, and a federal land manager shall respond to, reasonable requests for information […]

  • State Sovereignty through Local Coordination Act March 15, 2013

    Legislation  Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of {insert state}: Section 1. Title __, chapter ___, article ___, ________ Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section ________, to read: Federal Regulations; Local Coordination for Cities, Towns, Counties, and Special Districts (A) Definitions. (1) “Coordinate” means the action necessary to achieve coordination. (2) “Coordination” means the process by which the federal or state government seeks in good faith to reach consistency between a federal or state regulation, rule, plan or policy and a city, town, county, or special district law, regulation, plan or policy that is less restrictive […]

  • Resolution Requesting that the Federal Government Confer and Consult with the States on Management of Public Lands and Energy Resources March 15, 2013

    Resolution Requesting that the Federal Government Confer and Consult with the States on Management of Public Lands and Energy Resources Summary This Resolution requests that Congress and the Administration acknowledge and respect the role of states in a federal constitutional republic. It calls on Congress and the Administration to commit to greater consultation with the states and to recognize that cost-benefit and job-impact analyses must be addressed in order to understand how federal regulations impact states and their respective citizens. Model Resolution Whereas, Management of public lands and energy resources has a direct fiscal impact on state economies and state […]

  • Resolution to Retain State Authority over Hydraulic Fracturing March 15, 2013

    WHEREAS, Hydraulic fracturing is a proven technology with a long history of environmentally safe use in the completion of oil and gas wells; and WHEREAS, The oil and gas producing States regulate hydraulic fracturing as a component of their regulatory problems for the drilling, completion, operation, and plugging of oil and gas wells; and WHEREAS, The reservoirs that produce oil and gas are highly variable geologically and separated geographically across the oil and gas producing States such that State regulatory agencies are best suited by local expertise and experience to effectively regulate hydraulic fracturing; and WHEREAS, State regulatory agencies are […]

  • Resolution Reaffirming Tenth Amendment Rights March 15, 2013

     Resolution Reaffirming Tenth Amendment Rights Summary The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States limits the power of the federal government and holds that the federal government was established by the states to be an agent of the states. This resolution reaffirms those Tenth Amendment Rights and reasserts the balance of power between the states and the federal government codified in the US Constitution. Model Resolution WHEREAS, the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States specifically provides that, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, […]

  • Madison Amendment March 15, 2013

    Madison Amendment Summary Without making any change to the structure of the Constitution of the United States of America, the Madison Amendment guarantees that states have the power to limit the scope of an Article V Convention to just a single amendment.  The Madison Amendment eliminates the risk of an inadvertent ”runaway” Constitutional Convention and ensures that states have, as the Constitution’s authors intended, the same power as Congress to propose a single Amendment to the Constitution. Model Resolution Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States allowing the States to call a limited convention solely for the […]