TITLE: Expressing support for the repeal of the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

SUMMARY: Expressing support for the repeal of the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

FULL TEXT:
WHEREAS, The federal government was intended to be a creation of and responsive to the sovereign states; and WHEREAS, Ratification of the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1913 significantly diminished the 10th Amendment rights of states and the people, shifting the balance of power away from the states in favor of the national government; and WHEREAS, A restoration of the appropriate balance of power between the sovereign State of Texas and the federal government is necessary; and WHEREAS, The federal government has asserted itself in nearly all matters of human endeavor including the exercising of authorities not granted to it under the constitution; and WHEREAS, The rate of unconstitutional encroachments on state sovereignty has increased since the adoption of the 17th Amendment; and WHEREAS, The balance of power among large and small states and the federal government was a matter of paramount importance to the framers of the Constitution; accordingly, they created Congress with both a lower house, representing the people in the states according to population, and an upper house, for which each state legislature would appoint two senators; this novel system struck a balance between a strong central authority and the autonomy of individual states; and WHEREAS, By discarding the structure carefully developed by the framers of the Constitution, the 17th Amendment has undermined the legislative branch, subverting the Senate's role in safeguarding the prerogatives of states as distinct governments and thereby disfiguring federalism; and WHEREAS, It is necessary to restore the original constitutional design that federal senators serve the best interest of the State of Texas; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, That the 89th Legislature of the State of Texas hereby express support for repeal of the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; and, be it further RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to the speaker of the House of Representatives and the president of the Senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of the Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.