New American by Joe Wolverton, II, J.D. 5/15/2017
A bill is working its way through the Texas state legislature that would create a way for Lone Star State lawmakers to refuse to cooperate or enforce any act of the federal government that exceeds its constitutional authority.
The Texas Sovereignty Act — HB 2338 — has already been approved by the state House of Representatives Select Committee on State and Federal Power and Responsibility by a vote of 5-2 and will now continue on through the long legislative process, with the goal of restoring the sovereignty of the state and forcing the federal beast back inside its constitutional cage.
Specifically, the bill creates the Joint Legislative Committee on Constitutional Enforcement to “review federal actions that challenge the sovereignty of the state and of the people for the purpose of determining if the federal action is unconstitutional.”
The first few paragraphs of the bill rehearse the proper relationship between the states and the federal government (creators and creation) and restates the power retained by the states to legislate in any area not placed within federal purview in the Constitution.
As written in the text of the legislation:
The people of the several states comprising the United States of America created the federal government to be their agent for certain enumerated powers delegated by the states and the people to the federal government through the United States Constitution.
The Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution confirms the intent and understanding of the people of the United States that all powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, or prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
Each power delegated to the federal government by the United States Constitution is constitutionally limited to that power as it was understood and exercised at the time it was delegated. An amendment to the Constitution as ratified by the states is required to expand or limit a constitutionally delegated power.
More:
https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/26023-texas-bill-creates-committee-to-identify-nullify-unconstitutional-federal-acts
