Florida Senate - 2020                                    SM 1064
       
       
        
       By Senator Baxley
       
       
       
       
       
       12-00704-20                                           20201064__
    1                           Senate Memorial                         
    2         A memorial to the Congress of the United States,
    3         urging Congress to propose to the states an amendment
    4         to the Constitution of the United States, for
    5         submission to the several states, which would require
    6         that a federal regulation be adopted by a majority
    7         vote of both houses of Congress if the proposed
    8         federal regulation is opposed by a specified
    9         percentage of the membership of either house.
   10  
   11         WHEREAS, the growth and abuse of federal regulatory
   12  authority threaten our constitutional liberties, including those
   13  guaranteed by the Bill of Rights in the First, Second, Fourth,
   14  and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States,
   15  and
   16         WHEREAS, federal regulators must be more accountable to the
   17  elected representatives of the people, and not immune from such
   18  accountability, and
   19         WHEREAS, the Declaration of Independence decried the
   20  imposition of the central government of “absolute Tyranny over
   21  these States” that “erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent
   22  hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out
   23  their substance,” and
   24         WHEREAS, the states too often find themselves in a similar
   25  position today, and
   26         WHEREAS, the United States Senate is considering the
   27  Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act
   28  of 2019, S. 92, to require that Congress approve major new
   29  federal regulations before they may take effect, and
   30         WHEREAS, even if enacted, the law may be repealed or not
   31  enforced by a future Congress or the President of the United
   32  States, and
   33         WHEREAS, an amendment to the United States Constitution
   34  does not require the President’s approval and cannot be waived
   35  by a future Congress or the President, NOW, THEREFORE,
   36  
   37  Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   38  
   39         That the Florida Legislature respectfully petitions the
   40  Congress of the United States to propose to the states an
   41  amendment to the Constitution of the United States, for
   42  submission to the several states for ratification, entitled the
   43  “Regulation Freedom Amendment,” as follows:
   44  
   45         “Whenever one-quarter of the Members of the United
   46         States House or the United States Senate transmit to
   47         the President their written declaration of opposition
   48         to a proposed federal regulation, it shall require a
   49         majority vote of the House and Senate to adopt that
   50         regulation.”
   51  
   52         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State dispatch
   53  copies of this memorial to the President of the United States,
   54  the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the
   55  United States House of Representatives, and each member of the
   56  Florida delegation to the United States Congress.