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104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. J. RES. 9

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States barring

Federal unfunded mandates to the States.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JANUARY 4, 1995

Mr. HATCH (for himself, Mr. BROWN, Mr. ABRAHAM, Mr. LOTT, Mr.

KEMPTHORNE, Mr. SHELBY, Mr. SMITH, and Mr. THOMAS) introduced

the following joint resolution; which was read twice and referred to the

Committee on the Judiciary

JOINT RESOLUTION

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United

States barring Federal unfunded mandates to the States.

1 Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives

2 of the United States of America in Congress assembled

3 (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the fol4 lowing article is proposed as an amendment to the Con5 stitution, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes

6 as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legisla7 tures of three-fourths of the several States within seven

8 years after the date of its submission to the States for

9 ratification:
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•SJ 9 IS

1 ‘‘ARTICLE—

2 ‘‘SECTION 1. Except as provided in section 2, no obli3 gation imposed by or pursuant to an Act of Congress upon

4 a State shall be enforceable against such State unless the

5 Federal Government provides the State the funds needed

6 to pay the State’s costs of complying with the obligation,

7 and no condition imposed by or pursuant to an Act of Con8 gress on the receipt of Federal assistance by a State shall

9 be enforceable against the State unless the condition is

10 directly and substantially related to the specific subject

11 matter of the assistance.

12 ‘‘SECTION 2. Notwithstanding section 1, an Act of

13 Congress that imposes an unfunded obligation upon a

14 State, or a condition on the receipt of Federal assistance

15 by a State, is not rendered unenforceable against the State

16 by this article if a separate Act of Congress waiving the

17 provisions of section 1 has been passed by two-thirds of

18 the whole number of each House of Congress in a recorded

19 roll call vote and has become a law. An Act of Congress

20 waiving the provisions of section 1 may waive those provi21 sions only with respect to specifically identified unfunded

22 obligations, or conditions on the receipt of Federal assist23 ance, imposed by a single, specified Act of Congress and

24 may contain no matter other than such waivers of provi25 sions of section 1.
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•SJ 9 IS

1 ‘‘SECTION 3. No Act of Congress shall impose on any

2 State an obligation to enact or administer a Federal pro3 gram.

4 ‘‘SECTION 4. For purposes of this article, the term

5 ‘State’ includes any subdivision or instrumentality of a

6 State.

7 ‘‘SECTION 5. Section 1 of this article shall apply only

8 to Acts of Congress that become effective after the date

9 of ratification of this article.

10 ‘‘SECTION 6. The judicial remedy for violation of this

11 article may include an order or ruling that an obligation

12 or condition is not enforceable against a State, but shall

13 not include an order or ruling that the Federal Govern14 ment provide a State the funds needed to pay the State’s

15 costs of complying with an obligation.

16 ‘‘SECTION 7. Nothing in this article shall be con17 strued as rendering compatible with this Constitution any

18 exercise of Federal power that would, in the absence of

19 this article, violate this Constitution.’’.

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