85R107 EEY-D     By: Bell H.C.R. No. 29       CONCURRENT RESOLUTION          WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment to the United States   Constitution guarantees that "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 amendment, found within the Bill of Rights,   defines the balance of power between the federal government and the   states, authorizing the federal government to exercise only those   functions delegated to it within the Constitution; and          WHEREAS, In recent years, the federal government has   increasingly relied on presidential executive orders to dictate   policy while bypassing the demand for congressional consent; such   unilateral edicts not only circumvent the legislative process and   subvert our system of representative democracy, but also undermine   the constitutionally protected doctrine of states' rights; and          WHEREAS, The Texas Constitution affirms that Texas is a free   and independent state subject only to the supremacy of the U.S.   Constitution, and accordingly, neither the State of Texas nor its   people are bound by laws enacted outside the scope of authorized   executive power; now, therefore, be it          RESOLVED, That the 85th Legislature of the State of Texas   hereby declare that presidential executive orders have no state   constitutional authority and cannot interfere with states' rights;   and, be it further          RESOLVED, That the 85th Texas Legislature hereby declare that   presidential executive orders are not state government mandates and   therefore should not and will not be treated as such by state   agencies; moreover, executive orders are not mandates that may   regulate the behavior or abrogate the rights and freedoms enjoyed   by Texas citizens; and, be it further          RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward copies of   this resolution to the governor of the State of Texas, to the chairs   of all state regulatory boards, and to the executive directors of   all state executive agencies; 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 president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of   Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the   members of the Texas delegation to 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.