Tenth Amendment Remembered

...from Tenth Amendment Center We can only produce these videos with your help. Please consider a donation to support TAC today. Click here Part 1: We examine an effective strategy for nullification. By looking at both historical and modern examples, we put together a blueprint of action to stop the federal government today. You’ll learn some amazing stories they don’t teach you in school about resistance to centralized power. There’s a common theme from Patrick Henry, Sam Adams, to movements in current times – and it’s one that can be used successfully right now.  Part 2: We take this strategy and explain how to implement it on ten major federal programs. Yes, that means what steps to take against federal gun control, the federal reserve, the surveillance state, asset forfeiture, and more. You’ll have the tools you need to get the ball rolling right now. WATCH IT: Watch Individual Episodes of This Series at this link FOLLOW TAC: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user...

...from Tenth Amendment Center To assume that government gives you rights takes you down a very dangerous path. After all, whatever government gives, government can take away. Michael Boldin April 30, 2017 at 08:05PM

...from Tenth Amendment Center ALBANY , N.Y. (April 30, 2017) – Last Tuesday, two New York Assembly committees passed a bill that would expand the state’s medical marijuana program. Passage of this measure would further nullify the federal prohibition on cannabis in practice. Assm. Richard Gottfried (D-NYC) introduced Assembly Bill 4277 ( A4277 ), along with 31 cosponsors. If passed, New York would recognize medical marijuana cards from other states, allowing out-of-state residents to access medical marijuana while in New York. “A registry identification card, or its equivalent, that is issued under the laws of another state, district, territory, commonwealth, or possession of the United States that allows the medical use of marihuana has the same force and effect as a registry identification card issued by the department, so long as the visiting patient’s condition is a serious condition, as attested to in writing by a practitioner. Where a registered organization dispenses m...

...from Tenth Amendment Center JACKSON , Miss. (April 30, 2017) – Instead of passing comprehensive asset forfeiture reform that would have also closed a loophole allowing police to circumvent more stringent state laws by passing cases to the feds, Mississippi took a very small step forward and enacted a modest measure increasing asset forfeiture transparency. The Mississippi legislature passed, and Gov. Phil Bryant signed, House Bill 812 ( HB812 ). The new law requires police to submit specific information relating to every asset forfeiture case, including a description of the property and its value, and copies of any petition that contest the forfeiture. It does not require police to account for their spending of asset forfeiture proceeds. The Institute of Justice described this as a major weakness in the reporting scheme. “Mississippi’s failure to account for spending from forfeiture funds is particularly troubling,” said Jennifer McDonald, an IJ research analyst. “With forfeit...

...from Tenth Amendment Center This is featured in today’s Tenther newsletter, which everyone in the nullification movement gets daily or weekly.  Be one of them  – and Become a member here to support the TAC. Last week, an Associated Press  reporter interviewed me about a Texas bill that would set the stage to withdraw state resources from some federal actions. The article came out this week and my quotes in the story served as a life raft in a sea of federal supremacy. Texas  House Bill 2338 would create a mechanism to review federal laws and end state cooperation with enforcement of those determined by Texas to violate the U.S. Constitution. The proposed law would establish a standing committee to review federal actions and determine their constitutionality. State and local entities would then be prohibited from enforcing any federal laws, agency rules and regulations, executive orders, federal court decisions, or treaties deemed unconstitutio...

...from Tenth Amendment Center Sometimes fiction inadvertently mimics fact. A political thriller penned by C.H. Cobb does just that. The 2016 presidential race was expected to be a race between a moderate Republican and a typical left-wing Democrat. Suddenly, an unlikely contender throws his hat in the ring. Against all odds and expectations of pundits and political commentators, his message resonates across America and manages to carry him all the way down to the wire on Election Day. Accusation of Russian involvement fly. While that might describe the actual 2016 presidential race, it also accurately summaries the plot of The Candidate . The 450-page novel tells the story of Henry Marshall, a plain-spoken constitutionalist blogger, as he rises from Internet stardom to reluctantly launching an independent presidential campaign. Penned before the 2016 election cycle and the Trump phenomenon, The Candidate is a political thriller that unwittingly earns a place within the alternati...

...from Tenth Amendment Center Over the last 3 months, anytime we report about a state opting out of a federal program (any program, it seems, whether it’s marijuana prohibition or mass surve illance, for example), we get aggressively attacked by people who claim that “states are required to help the feds enforce federal law, or they’ll lose ALL federal funding.” Generally, we’re told this in the frame of wanting to force states to help enforce federal immigration laws. Texas, however, is taking a different approach . Instead of asking the feds to force localities to enforce federal immigration law, they’re working to pass a state law to require political subdivisions of the state to enforce federal immigration law. Whether that’s good policy or bad policy for Texas is up to Texas. But it’s a decision for Texas, not Washington D.C. Michael Boldin April 28, 2017 at 04:40PM

...from Tenth Amendment Center AUGUSTA , Maine (April 28, 2017) – Last week, Maine Gov. Paul LePage vetoed a bill that would have required the legislature to review state regulations adopted to facilitate federal acts. Passage would have opened the door to reject federal mandates. A coalition of three Democrat representatives introduced House Bill 23 ( LD23 ) on Jan. 10. The legislation would have repealed a provision of Maine law that exempts “major substantive rules” that must be adopted to comply with federal law or to qualify for federal funds from legislative review. This would set the stage to reject and block implementation of such rules in practice. Apparently more concerned about maintaining executive power and protecting state-federal “partnerships” than stopping unconstitutional federal actions, Maine’s Republican governor vetoed LD23 , and the majority of Republicans supported him when the House failed to override the veto. “Under current Maine law, the Executive ...

...from Tenth Amendment Center CARSON CITY, Nev. (April 28, 2017) – On Wednesday, the Nevada Senate unanimously passed a bill that would legalize commercial industrial hemp production in the state, setting the foundation to end federal prohibition in effect. A bipartisan coalition of 12 legislators introduced Senate Bill 396 ( SB396 ) last month. The legislation would authorize the cultivation of industrial hemp for commercial purposes and the production of agricultural hemp seed in Nevada. The bill expands current law that only allows an institution of higher education or the Nevada Department of Agriculture to cultivate industrial hemp for research purposes conducted under an agricultural pilot program or for other agricultural or academic research. Under the proposed law, the state would create separate licensing programs for growers, handlers and producers of hemp seed. The federal government currently restricts the acquisition of seed. Encouraging seed development within ...

...from Tenth Amendment Center MONTGOMERY , Ala. (Apr. 27, 2017) – An Alabama House bill would withdraw the state from Common Core standards, an important step toward nullifying nationalized education in the state. Rep. Barry Moore (R-Enterprise) introduced House Bill 558 ( HB558 ), called the Alabama Traditional Education Standards Act to void Common Core standards and create a framework to establish state standards to replace them. The Common Core standards would be replaced with the educational standards previously in place. HB558 reads, in part: In order to codify the intent of the board, the State of Alabama hereby terminates all plans, programs, activities, efforts, and expenditures relative to the implementation of the educational initiative commonly referred to as the Common Core State Standards, or any derivative or permutation thereof, including, but not limited to, the Alabama College and Career Ready Standards which have been adopted or may be adopted by the board or...

...from Tenth Amendment Center by Ryan McMaken, Mises Institute The Colorado House of Representatives voted 56-7 on Wednesday to pass legislation mandating that “the state, a state agency, or an agency of a political subdivision of the state shall not knowingly assist or aid a federal agency or agency of another state in arresting a Colorado citizen for committing an act that is a Colorado constitutional right.”  It is believed that the bill was introduced as a repudiation of the Trump administration’s repeated hints that it plans to crack down on states that have legalized recreational marijuana. In February, White House Spokesman Sean Spicer announced “I do believe that you’ll see greater enforcement of [federal law against marijuana].” Unfortunately, the Colorado legislation does contain phrases that soften the power of state law, which defines a “right” as “a right enumerated in the Colorado constitution that has not been declared unconstitutional by a federal or Colorad...

...from Tenth Amendment Center INDIANAPOLIS , Ind. (April 28, 2017) – Last Friday, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signed a bill into law that will help facilitate healthcare freedom and set the stage to nullify national healthcare in practice in the state Sen. Eric Koch (R) sponsored Senate Bill 303 ( SB303 ). The legislation specifies that direct primary care agreements (sometimes called medical retainer agreements) do not constitute insurance, thereby freeing doctors and patients from the onerous requirements and regulations under the state insurance code. . SB303 includes provisions defining direct primary care agreements and establishing their requirements. The Senate initially passed SB303 by a 50-0 vote . On April 4, the House approved the bill with some technical amendments 97-0 . The Senate unanimously concurred with the amendments a few days later. With the governor’s signature, SB303 will go into effect on July 1. According to Michigan Capitol Confidential , by removing a t...

...from Tenth Amendment Center by Michael F. Cannon, CATO Institute The most remarkable thing about Rep. Tom MacArthur’s (R-NJ) amendment to the House leadership’s American Health Care Act is how little the conservative House Freedom Caucus got in exchange for supporting an ObamaCare-lite bill they had previously opposed. The MacArthur amendment would allow states to apply for waivers that would: Exempt their individual and small-group insurance markets from ObamaCare’s “essential health benefits” coverage mandates as early as 2018; Allow insurers in those markets to consider the health status of previously uninsured applicants (if the state sets up some more direct form of subsidy for people with pre-existing conditions, either within or outside the commercial market) as early as 2019; and/or Allow states to loosen ObamaCare’s “community rating” price controls as they apply to age early as 2020. These waivers may never happen. They certainly won’t happen in time to save con...

...from Tenth Amendment Center DENVER , Colo. (April 27, 2017) – On Monday, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper signed a bill into law that will help facilitate healthcare freedom in the state. A bipartisan coalition of two representatives and two senators sponsored House Bill 1115 ( HB1115 ). The legislation specifies that direct primary care agreements (sometimes called medical retainer agreements) do not constitute insurance, thereby freeing doctors and patients from the onerous requirements and regulations under the state insurance code. The bill also defines what constitutes a direct primary care agreement and creates a modest regulatory structure. The House initially approved HB1115 by a 65-0 vote . The Senate then passed the measure with some technical amendments by a 35-0 vote . Earlier this month, the House unanimously concurred with the Senate amendments , With Gov. Hickenlooper’s signature, the law will go into effect later this summer. According to Michigan Capitol Confid...

...from Tenth Amendment Center JEFFERSON CITY , Mo. (Apr. 27, 2017) – Yesterday, a second Missouri House committee passed a bill to legalize medical marijuana for qualifying patients in the state, setting the foundation to nullify federal prohibition in practice. Introduced by Rep. Jim Neely (R-Cameron), along with eight bipartisan co-sponsors, House Bill 437 ( HB437 ) would expand existing laws currently on the books pertaining to cannabis oil and experimental treatments. It would broaden those provisions to encompass medical marijuana in all of its forms. Activists in Missouri call HB437 a comprehensive medical marijuana bill with no restrictions on licensing or plant count. HB437 passed in the House Rules – Administrative Oversight Committee on Apr. 26 by an 8-4 vote. It had previously passed in the House Health and Mental Health Policy on Apr. 13 by an 8-2 vote. Patients could access medical marijuana under HB437 if they suffer from “a persistent or recurrent disease or condit...

...from Tenth Amendment Center ALBANY , N.Y. (April 27, 2017) – A bill introduced in the New York Senate would put strict limitations on the use of automated license plate reader systems (ALPRs) by the state. Passage into law would also place significant roadblocks in the way of a federal program using states to help track the location of millions of everyday people through pictures of their license plates. Sen. Brad Hoylman introduced Senate Bill 23 ( S23 ) earlier this year. The legislation would limit law enforcement use of ALPRs to specific law enforcement functions. The bill also puts strict limitations on the retention and sharing of data gathered by license plate readers. “Captured plate data obtained for the purposes described under this section shall not be used or shared for any other purpose and shall not be preserved for more than one hundred eighty days except pursuant to a preservation or disclosure request under this subdivision, or a warrant.” S23 prohibits t...

...from Tenth Amendment Center RICHMOND , Va. (April 27, 2017) – Yesterday, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed legislation into law that will help facilitate healthcare freedom in the state. Del. R. Steven Landes (R-Verona) sponsored House Bill 2053 ( HB2053 ). Sen. William Stanley Jr. (R-Moneta) sponsored the Senate companion bill ( SB800 ). The legislation specifies that direct primary care agreements (sometimes called medical retainer agreements) do not constitute insurance, thereby freeing doctors and patients from the onerous requirements and regulations under the state insurance code. Both HB2053 and SB800 overwhelmingly passed through the House and Senate. After the legislature approved two technical amendment recommended by McAuliffe, the governor signed the bills Wednesday. The law will go into effect in July. Last year, McAullife vetoed a similar measure. According to Michigan Capitol Confidential , by removing a third party payer from the equation, medical retainer a...

...from Tenth Amendment Center CHARLESTON , W. Va. (April 27, 2017) – On Tuesday, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice signed a bill into law significantly expanding the state’s hemp licensing program, opening the door for anybody in the state to produce or process industrial hemp for commercial purposes. The new law sets the foundation to end federal prohibition of hemp in effect in the Mountain State. Del. Jeff Eldridge (D-Alum Creek) and Del. Jim Butler (R-Henderson) sponsored House Bill 2453 ( HB2453 ). The legislation removes language in the current hemp licensing program restricting it to the Department of Agriculture and state institutions of higher learning. Under the new law, any person with a license will be able plant, grow, harvest, possess, process, sell, and buy industrial hemp. The licensing program is “shall issue,” meaning the Department of Agriculture will be required to issue a license to any person meeting statutory requirements. Without this section, the depart...