Accountability in Government Amendment to the Constitution of the United States Exposed

The Accountability in Government Amendment to the Constitution of the United States does not include adoption or approval information. ALEC has attempted to distance itself from this piece of legislation after the launch of ALECexposed.org in 2011, but it has done nothing to get it repealed in the states where it previously pushed for it to be made into law.

ALEC Bill Text

Summary

A resolution for the purpose of petitioning the Congress of the United States to propose an amendment to the Constitution of the United States for submission to the States to prohibit the federal government from imposing:

(1) regulatory mandates on the States or their political subdivisions;

(2) unfunded mandates on state and local governments; and

(3) spending conditions that are unrelated to the actual expenditures of funds allocated by Congress.

Model Resolution

WHEREAS, the federal government was established by the States through the ratification of the Constitution of the United States; and

WHEREAS, the federal government was granted certain limited powers under the Constitution of the United States and the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides 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 the people;" and

WHEREAS, state authority has been increasingly eroded through federal assumption of powers reserved to the States under the Tenth Amendment; and

WHEREAS, the federal government has impermissibly expanded its power beyond its constitutional bounds at the expense of the state and local governments by imposing federal mandates and conditional spending grants on unrelated federal policies; and

WHEREAS, federal encroachment on state authority obscures the lines between state and federal policy, thereby decreasing the political accountability of elected officials of both governments. To ensure political accountability, the People must be able to discern which governmental actors are imposing obligations and expenses upon them; 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, federal mandates are being imposed at an alarming rate on the States without the accompanying tax dollars necessary to implemement the mandated programs; and

WHEREAS, the impact of unfunded federal mandates threatens the fiscal integrity of the States as well as the States' right of self determination;

NOW THERFORE BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF {INSERT STATE}, A MAJORITY OF All MEMBERS OF THE TWO HOUSES CONCURRING SEPARATELY HEREIN, that the Congress of the United States is hereby petitioned to propose the Accountability in Government Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, for submittal to the States for ratification, prohibiting the federal government from:

(1) imposing regulatory mandates on the States or their political subdivisions;

(2) imposing unfunded mandates on state and local governments or mandates that are not enacted pursuant to the powers of the federal government;

(3) imposing spending conditions that are unrelated to the actual expenditures of funds allocated by Congress.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that to achieve the purpose expressed above that the Accountability in Government Amendment shall provide that:

1. No State shall be obligated, without its consent to enact or enforce any State law or regulation, or to administer any federal regulatory program imposed by or pursuant to a law enacted by Congress acting pursuant to its enumerated powers.

2. Any obligation imposed upon a State by or pursuant to a law enacted by Congress shall not be enforceable against such State unless the federal government has acted pursuant to its enumerated powers and has provided the State with the funds needed to pay the States' cost of compliance with the obligation.

3. No condition on the receipt of federal funds by a State, imposed by or pursuant to a law enacted by Congress is valid unless such condition is clearly stated, directly related to and does no more than specify the purposes for which, or manner which, the funds are to be spent.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the State of {insert state} transmit copies of this Concurrent Resolution to the President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives of each state's legislature of the United States, and the {insert state} Congressional Delegation.