HCR9

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	9
TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2002
STATE OF HAWAII

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HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

REQUESTING CONGRESS TO SUBMIT TO THE STATES AN AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES TO PROHIBIT THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT AND ANY FEDERAL COURT FROM ORDERING A STATE OR POLITICAL SUBDIVISION TO LEVY OR INCREASE TAXES.

 

 

WHEREAS, the Constitution of the United States reserves to the states a broad range of powers, including full authority over state and local government tax policy; and

WHEREAS, our present federal government has strayed from the intent of our founding fathers and the Constitution of the United States through inappropriate federal mandates; and

WHEREAS, federal district courts, with the acquiescence of the United States Supreme Court, continue to order states to levy or increase taxes to comply with federal mandates, as in the case of Missouri v. Jenkins (1990); and

WHEREAS, these court actions violate the principle of separation of powers, as they constitute a tax imposed by the federal Judiciary, despite the fact that the role of the Judiciary is to interpret, not create the law, and the power to tax is reserved to the legislative branches of the state and federal governments; and

WHEREAS, twenty-three states have passed amendments calling for a constitutional amendment prohibiting the federal courts from ordering a state or county to levying or increasing taxes; and

WHEREAS, the time has come for the people of this nation and their duly elected representatives in state government to reaffirm that the authority to tax under the Constitution of the United States is retained by the people who, by their consent alone, delegate the power to tax explicitly to their duly elected representatives in the legislative branch of government who are directly responsible and accountable to the electorate; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2002, the Senate concurring, that the United States Congress is requested to prepare and submit to the states an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to add a new article providing as follows:

"Neither the Supreme Court nor any inferior court of the United States shall have the power to instruct or order a state or political subdivision thereof, or an official of such a state or political subdivision, to levy or increase taxes"; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the other states of this nation who have not passed such a resolution are hereby urged to do so; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President and Vice President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the members of Hawaii's congressional delegation, and the presiding officer of each Chamber of the Legislature in all other states in the nation.

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

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