Tenth Amendment Remembered

...from Tenth Amendment Center During the past three weeks, Congress passed and President Donald Trump signed into law vast new powers for the NSA and the FBI to spy on innocent Americans and selectively to pass on to law enforcement the fruits of that spying.  Those fruits can now lawfully include all fiber-optic data transmitted to or in the United States, such as digital recordings of all landline and mobile telephone calls and copies in real time of all text messages and emails and banking, medical and legal records electronically stored or transmitted. All this bulk surveillance had come about because the National Security Agency convinced federal judges meeting in secret that they should authorize it. Now Congress and the president have made it the law of the land. This enactment came about notwithstanding the guarantee of the right to privacy — the right to be left alone — articulated in the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution and elsewhere. Though the surveillance exp...

...from Tenth Amendment Center INDIANAPOLIS , Ind. (Jan. 26, 2018) – A Indiana House committee unanimously passed a bill that would expand the state’s hemp law to prohibit state prosecution of people who sell or possess industrial hemp and industrial hemp products. Passage of this legislation would open the door for a commercial hemp market in the state, setting the foundation to nullify federal prohibition in practice. Rep. Jim Lucas (R-Seymour) and Rep. Sean Eberhart (R-Shelbyville) introduced House Bill 1137 ( HB1137 ) on Jan. 9. The legislation would clarify the existing hemp law in Indiana to prevent state prosecution of people selling hemp or hemp products. “Except as provided in subsection (a), a person may process, manufacture, possess, transport, sell, distribute, buy, or otherwise use industrial hemp or industrial hemp products if the industrial hemp was planted, grown, cultivated, harvested, and processed by persons licensed under this chapter or by person...

...from Tenth Amendment Center TALLAHASSEE , Fla. (Jan. 26, 2018) – Yesterday, the Florida House overwhelmingly passed a bill that would help facilitate healthcare freedom outside of government regulatory schemes. Rep. Daniel Burgess (R-Zephyrhills) prefiled House Bill 37 ( HB37 ) on Aug. 23. 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 stipulates that a primary care provider or an agent of a primary care provider is not required to obtain a certificate of authority or license under the Florida Insurance Code to market, sell, or offer to sell a direct primary care agreement. HB37 also includes provisions defining direct primary care agreements and establishing modest requirements. The House passed HB37 Thursday by a 97-10 vote . Similar legisl...

...from Tenth Amendment Center MONTGOMERY , Ala. (Jan. 26, 2018) – Yesterday, an Alabama House committee passed a bill that would abolish marriage licenses in the state and effectively nullify in practice both sides of the contentious national debate over government-sanctioned marriage. Sen. Greg Albritton (R-Bay Minette) prefiled Senate Bill 13 ( SB13 ) in September. The legislation would abolish all requirements to obtain a marriage license in Alabama. Instead, probate judges would simply record civil contracts of marriage between two individuals based on signed affidavits. According to the bill summary, SB13 would “eliminate the requirement for solemnization of a marriage for it to be considered valid” and “specify that the judge of probate would have no authority to reject any recording of a marriage, so long as the affidavits, forms, and data are provided. must record certain affidavits, forms, and data regarding the marriage.” The House Judiciary Committee passed SB13 by a ...

...from Tenth Amendment Center LINCOLN , Neb. (Jan. 26, 2018) – A bill filed in the Nebraska Senate would help facilitate healthcare freedom outside of government insurance regulatory schemes. Sen. Merv Riepe (R-D12) introduced Legislature Bill 1119 ( LB1119 ) on January 18. 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. LB1119 also includes provisions defining direct primary care agreements and establishing modest requirements. The bill goes a step further than direct primary care legislation passed in other states. LB1119 would require the state Department of Health Services to set up a pilot program for direct primary care for Medicaid recipients. This represents the kind of cost control Obamacare promised but failed to deliver. In 2015, Tom Woods...

...from Tenth Amendment Center ANNAPOLIS , Md. (Jan. 26, 2018) – A bill introduced in the Maryland House would significantly limit the impact of federal programs that militarize local police. Del. David Moon (D-Montgomery Co.), along with six Democrat cosponsors, introduced House Bill 240 ( HB240 ). The legislation would prohibit police from procuring any of the following equipment from a federal military surplus program. (1) An armored or weaponized aircraft; drone; or vehicle; (2) A destructive device (3) A firearm silencer (4) A grenade launcher The proposed law would also require any law enforcement agency that requests property from a military equipment surplus program to publish a notice of the request on a publicly accessible website within 14 days after the request, The provisions of HB240 would apply to military equipment available both through the well-known 1033 program, along with any other military surplus program operated by the federal governmen...

...from Tenth Amendment Center NASHVILLE , Tenn. (Jan. 26, 2017) – A bill introduced in the Tennessee Senate would legalize medical marijuana for qualifying patients in the state, setting the foundation to nullify unconstitutional federal cannabis prohibition in practice. Introduced by Sen. Steven Dickerson (R-Nashville), Senate Bill 1710 ( SB1710 ) would allow individuals to possess medical marijuana if they suffer from one or more qualifying conditions. Dispensaries would be permissible under SB1710 to provide medical marijuana to qualifying patients as well. Patients would also have the option of naming a caretaker who could grow marijuana on their behalf. “Now is the time for the General Assembly to embrace thoughtful, medically responsible legislation to help Tennessee’s sickest residents,” Sen. Dickerson said. Rep. Jeremy Faison (R-Cosby) filed a companion bill ( HB1749 ) in the House. Despite the federal prohibition on marijuana, measures such as SB1710 remain perfectl...