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1995 SESSION

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HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 411 Memorializing the Congress of the United States to observe the 10th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 7, 1995 Agreed to by the Senate, February 21, 1995

WHEREAS, the 10th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States clearly limits the powers of the federal government by stating that "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 debate over the powers of the federal government in relation to the several states has raged throughout our history, but the recent actions of the federal government, particularly in the area of unfunded mandates, have rekindled the controversy; and

WHEREAS, the restriction on the power of the federal government, so simply and elegantly stated in the 10th Amendment, is the essence of the federalism envisioned by the framers of the Constitution; and

WHEREAS, that vision of federalism, with the states retaining those powers not specifically delegated by the Constitution to the federal government, has been subverted by an insolvent federal government that imposes increasingly onerous and costly mandates on the states; and

WHEREAS, the assault by the Congress of the United States on the 10th Amendment showing no signs of abating, the time for the states to exert their constitutional rights has come; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the Congress of the United States be hereby requested to pay greater heed to the clear restrictions placed by the 10th Amendment to the Constitution on the powers of the federal government; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Commonwealth join with the several other states that have taken steps to convene a "summit on federalism"; and, be it

RESOLVED FINALLY, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates transmit copies of this resolution to the President of the United States, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the President of the United States Senate, the Attorney General of Virginia, and the members of the Virginia Congressional Delegation so that they may be apprised of the sense of the General Assembly of Virginia.