Florida Senate - 2010                                    SB 2058
       
       
       
       By Senator Bennett
       
       
       
       
       21-01472A-10                                          20102058__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to sovereignty of the state; providing
    3         legislative findings that certain actions by the
    4         federal government threaten the sovereignty of the
    5         state under the United States Constitution and the
    6         fiscal security of the state; providing that the state
    7         is not bound by certain federal laws requiring the
    8         state to spend funds; providing exceptions; defining
    9         the term “insignificant fiscal impact”; requiring the
   10         Attorney General to enforce certain rights of the
   11         state; providing an effective date.
   12  
   13  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   14  
   15         Section 1. Federal laws requiring state to spend funds.—
   16         (1) The Legislature finds that the sovereignty of the state
   17  is threatened by the enactment or imposition of any law or
   18  regulation by the Federal Government which is beyond the scope
   19  of the powers delegated to the Federal Government under the
   20  Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The
   21  Legislature further finds that such federal enactments and
   22  impositions, including, but not limited to, requirements for
   23  mandatory action by the state or its citizens, diminish the
   24  right of the people of this state under the United States
   25  Constitution to govern themselves as a free, sovereign, and
   26  independent state. The Legislature further finds that such
   27  federal enactments and impositions, by requiring the state to
   28  spend significant funds, threaten the fiscal security of the
   29  state. The Legislature, therefore, intends for the state to
   30  assert its sovereignty and to challenge implementation of these
   31  mandates from the Federal Government.
   32         (2) The state is not bound by any federal law or regulation
   33  requiring, directly or indirectly, the state to spend funds or
   34  to take action requiring the expenditure of funds unless the
   35  Federal Government has:
   36         (a) Appropriated funds for the state which are estimated to
   37  be sufficient to fund the expenditure; or
   38         (b) Authorized the state to enact a funding source not
   39  available to the state on June 30, 2010, which can be used to
   40  generate the amount of funds estimated to be sufficient to fund
   41  the expenditure.
   42         (3) This section does not apply to federal laws or
   43  regulations having an insignificant fiscal impact on the state.
   44  For the purposes of this section, the term “insignificant fiscal
   45  impact” means an amount not greater than the average statewide
   46  population for the applicable fiscal year times 10 cents.
   47         (4) The Attorney General shall enforce the rights granted
   48  to the state under this section and the Tenth Amendment to the
   49  United States Constitution.
   50         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2010.