10th Amendment Petition
UPDATED 3/10/09
Please download and sign the petition: PDF FORMAT
Instructions for sending the petition to your Florida State Representative: PDF FORMAT
Find your Representative at myfloridahouse.gov
STATE OF FLORIDA
2009 Session of the Legislature
proposed: A FLORIDA TENTH AMENDMENT POWERS MEMORIAL
(actual PDF text may differ slightly from below – PDF reflects most recent revisions)
A memorial claiming authority under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over certain powers; serving notice to the federal government to cease and desist certain mandates; providing that certain federal legislation be prohibited or repealed; and directing distribution.
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
WHEREAS, 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 2009, the states are demonstrably treated as agents of the federal government; and
WHEREAS, many federal laws are directly in violation of 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 says, “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government”, and the Ninth Amendment states that ”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, 112 S. Ct. 2408 (1992), that Congress may not simply commandeer the legislative and regulatory processes of the states; 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.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA :
THAT the State and the people of Florida hereby claim authority 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.
THAT this serves as Notice and Demand to the federal government, as our agent, to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers.
THAT all compulsory federal legislation which 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.
THAT a copy of this memorial be distributed to the President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate of each state’s legislature of the United States of America, and each member of the Florida Congressional Delegation.
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The above memorial proposed for the State of Florida has been adapted from the Joint Resolution (HJR1089) approved by vote of 92-3 in the the Oklahoma House of Representatives in 2008. The 2009 version of that resolution may be viewed here
PETITION: I, _____, a citizen or resident of the State of Florida, residing at ___________, do hereby petition my State Legislators in Florida to introduce this memorial into both legislative houses for consideration in the 2009 legislative session. Signed:____Date:___